Success, Satisfaction and Scrutiny:
the Resident Engagement Toolkit
Case study five:
Costing complaints at AmicusHorizon
In Success, Satisfaction & Scrutiny we estimated we were saving about £180,000 annually as
a result of collaborating with residents to shape our approach to complaint handling.
Here’s how we worked out the figure.
1) We worked out a baseline. Residents first got actively involved in shaping our complaints
process in late 2009 through our Complaints Task Group. The impact of their work was
largely felt from 2010 onwards so 2009/10 seemed the most appropriate year against
which to compare.
2) We selected a year to compare against. 2013/14 was the obvious choice as, at the time of
writing the report, it was the most recent complete year for which data was available.
3) We analysed complaints between 2009/10 and 2013/14, categorising them by the highest
stage they’d reached (see Table A).
Table A: Formal Complaints
Highest Stage Reached
Year
1
2
3
4
Grand Total
2009/10
970
183
21
12
1186
2010/11
469
69
10
1
549
2011/12
218
32
11
4
265
2012/13
177
33
4
3
217
2013/14
173
30
9
4
216
4) Next we estimated the costs associated with each stage of our complaints process.
They’re shown in the table below.
Stage
Costs
What’s included in the cost?
1
Estimated cost: £140
Cumulative cost: £140
(Stage 1)
Customer Experience Officer time:
zz Logging case on Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) software
zz Acknowledging complaint in writing
zz Initial discussion with resident
zz Initial discussion with Lead Officer
zz Case conference with Lead Officer
zz Completing follow-up actions
Lead Officer time:
zz Initial discussion
zz Attending case conference
zz Writing response
zz Speaking to resident
14