Internal Complaints Procedure (repair related)
Case reference FOI2026/01409
Received 9 July 2026
Published 30 July 2026
Request
We would like to request the following information regarding internal complaints procedures in repair requests in the Council's housing stock:
1. Year by year (financial years 2023/4, 2024/25, 2025/26) How many stage one complaints were made regarding repairs?
2. Year by year (financial years 2023/4, 2024/25, 2025/26) How many stage two complaints were made regarding repairs?
3. Have complaints increased since the Complaints Handling Code? Does the council believe these new ICPs help tenants get better outcomes? Has the increased use of AI by tenants changed this system? (These are voluntary questions under FOIA).
Response
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please find the answers to your queries below:
We would like to request the following information regarding internal complaints procedures in repair requests in the Council's housing stock:
1. Year by year (financial years 2023/4, 2024/25, 2025/26) How many stage one complaints were made regarding repairs?
Please note that this information is published on our website as part of our Housing Operation Boards Reports and can be found via the following website:
https://democracy.guildford.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=1376
In particular, please review the ‘Agenda Reports Pack’ attached with each individual meeting date and search for ‘stage 1’ therein – for example, for the meeting dated 31st July 2024 you will find stage 1 complaints statistics for 2022/23 and 2023/24 at page 51 of the report. At the meeting dated 14th May 2025 you will find stage 1 complaints statistics for 2024/25 at page 52 of the report.
In relation to 2025/26, the total number of stage 1 complaints received was no longer a measure that we were required to report on and instead we were required to report on the number of Stage 1 complaints received in month per 1,000 stock in management – this information can be found at page 24 of the Agenda Reports Pack for the meeting which took place on 8th July 2026.
As such, the information you require can be found from publicly available sources and consequentially under Section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible.
2. Year by year (financial years 2023/4, 2024/25, 2025/26) How many stage two complaints were made regarding repairs?
Please note that this information is published on our website as part of our Housing Operation Boards Reports and can be found via the following website:
https://democracy.guildford.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=1376
In particular, please review the ‘Agenda Reports Pack’ attached with each individual meeting date and search for ‘stage 2’ therein – for example, for the meeting dated 31st July 2024 you will find stage 2 complaints statistics for 2022/23 and 2023/24 at page 51 of the report. At the meeting dated 14th May 2025 you will find stage 2 complaints statistics for 2024/25 at page 52 of the report.
In relation to 2025/26, the total number of stage 2 complaints received was no longer a measure that we were required to report on and instead we were required to report on the number of Stage 2 complaints received in month per 1,000 stock in management – this information can be found at page 24 of the Agenda Reports Pack for the meeting which took place on 8th July 2026.
As such, the information you require can be found from publicly available sources and consequentially under Section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible.
3. Have complaints increased since the Complaints Handling Code? Does the council believe these new ICPs help tenants get better outcomes? Has the increased use of AI by tenants changed this system? (These are voluntary questions under FOIA).
We have noticed a slight increase in complaints recently. Please note that regarding the rest of question 3 this does not fall under the Freedom of Information Act, as it is a request for an opinion, not information.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Guildford Borough Council
Documents
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