Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC)
The Complaint Handling Code requires landlords to have a Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC) on their governing body to provide assurance to the governing body on the effectiveness of its complaints system, including challenging the data and information provided to the Board or equivalent body.
What is a Member Responsible for Complaints?
The expectation is that the MRC is responsible for ensuring that complaint handling drives service improvement for residents and learning and business improvement for the organisation.
The role of the MRC is to champion a positive complaint handling culture and build effective relationships with complaints teams, residents, its audit and risk committees as well wider teams and the Housing Ombudsman Service.
The MRC should be looking to seek assurances from the complaints team and where appropriate the operational teams that complaints are being managed, change is happening and that residents are being heard through the process.
Who should the Member Responsible for Complaints be?
In this video Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway discusses who the Member Responsible for Complaints should be.
Guidance
Expectations for the MRC role
The statutory Complaint Handling Code requires landlords to have a Member Responsible for Complaints on their governing body. Find out more about the expectations of this role.
Member Responsible for Complaints FAQs
View the frequently asked questions about the role of a Member Responsible for Complaints and how the role is positioned within an organisation.
Guidance for governing bodies
Read the best practice guidance for landlords on championing a positive complaints culture and effective invilvement of governing bodies.
Understanding the role
What is the Ombudsman looking for in a Member Responsible for Complaints?
The Ombudsman is looking to the MRC to promote a culture of openness and transparency in relation to complaints made by residents. To provide assurance that systems are in place to capture learning from complaints, that governing bodies are engaged with this and to ensure senior level ownership of learning and accountability stemming from complaints.
How can the MRC drive a positive complaints culture in organisations?
The MRC is responsible for creating a culture where senior management regularly review issues and trends arising from complaint handling with themes or trends being assessed and reported to the governing body, which identify potential systemic issues, serious risks or policies and procedures that require revision.
The role should encourage a culture of effective cross-organisational and cross-department learning where operational teams collaborate with each other to produce improved service delivery.
Why is the role so important?
It is essential for landlords to have a positive complaint handling culture and the Member Responsible for Complaints can make sure that happens.
The MRC is responsible for creating a culture where senior management regularly review issues and trends arising from complaint handling with themes or trends being assessed and reported to the governing body, which identify potential systemic issues, serious risks or policies and procedures that require revision.
How engaged in the self-assessment should the role be?
The self-assessment is the key tool for the Member Responsible for Complaints to be assured that the landlord is fulfilling its obligations on the Code.
There are many different ways landlords have used their self-assessments to really analyse their complaint handling performance, such as involving residents. It is really important that the MRC sees the evidence that supports the answers within the self-assessment. The role holder should also be able to help the Chair of the Board to facilitate the subsequent discussion on the self-assessment.
Podcast with the Centre for Learning
Season 3 episode 3 – Member Responsible for Complaints
In this episode of our podacst series the Centre for Learning speak to Andrea Keenoy, Chief Operating Officer at the Housing Ombudsman.
They discuss the role of a Member Responsilbe for Complaints and the impact it can have on organisations.
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Resident information
When to use the Housing Ombudsman Service
If you are unable to resolve the complaint with your landlord directly via its complaint procedure, this service may be able to provide you with further assistance.
View the residents' pages to find out how to raise and complaint to your landlord and when to escalate your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service.