Complaints

How to make a complaint

You can complain directly to any Harbour Light member of staff, by email to complaints@harbourlight.org.uk, by telephone on 0151 909 5919, in person, or in writing to Harbour Light Assisted Living CIC, 71 Linacre Road, Litherland, Merseyside, L21 8NP. Complaints sent to our other email addresses are also accepted.

You do not need to use a particular form or the word “complaint”. An authorised representative can help you, and we can make reasonable adjustments for your communication or accessibility needs. You do not have to complain through your Support Company first.

Our two-stage complaints process

• Stage 1: we acknowledge, define and log your complaint within 5 working days of receiving it, and respond within 10 working days of acknowledgement.
• Stage 2: if you remain dissatisfied, you can ask for a review without having to justify your request. We acknowledge, define and log it within 5 working days of receiving your request, and issue our final response within 20 working days of acknowledgement. A different person considers Stage 2.

If a complaint is complex and more time is needed, we explain why and give an expected response date. Extensions are normally no more than a further 10 working days at Stage 1 or 20 working days at Stage 2, unless there is good reason for longer. We provide the Housing Ombudsman’s contact details and agree how we will keep you updated.

Complaints Policy and Procedure

Our Board-approved Complaints Policy and Procedure (THM07) explains how to complain about Harbour Light's landlord services and how we investigate, respond and put things right.

Download the Complaints Policy and Procedure — THM07 (PDF)

Housing Ombudsman

You can contact the Housing Ombudsman for information and assistance during our complaints process. If you remain dissatisfied after our Stage 2 final response, you can ask the Ombudsman to consider your complaint. You can also approach the Ombudsman if you believe we have unfairly refused to accept or escalate a complaint. Use the online complaint form or telephone 0300 111 3000. The service is independent and free for residents.

You can read the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code online.

STAIRs publication reviews

If your concern is that Harbour Light has not published information required under Chapter 1 of STAIRs, use our separate, single-stage STAIRs review procedure. It is not Stage 1 or Stage 2 of this complaints process and is not governed by the Complaint Handling Code.