The Council's complaint procedure
The two stages of the complaints procedure
The Council encourages any customer who has a problem with a service they receive, due to a failure in the service, to report it.
The Council will seek to resolve complaints at the earliest opportunity. Where possible, every attempt will be made to deal with the issues quickly.
Full details can be found in our Corporate Complaints and Compliments Policy and Procedure document.
Some complaints received by the Council have to be dealt with under a statutory process and will not follow the Corporate Complaints Procedure set out below.
Stage one
All complaints will come into the triage team who will identify which route the complaint will follow.
We aim to contact you within 5 working days and a full written reply sent within 10 working days.
If it involves a lot of issues and people, we may take an additional 10 working days to reply.
We will let you know what we are going to do.
Stage two
If you're not satisfied with the response to your Stage 1 complaint, you can ask for a Stage 2 review.
How to ask for a Stage 2 review
Contact us by email
Reply directly to the email we sent you with the Stage 1 response.
Make sure to include your surname and complaint case number in the subject line. This helps us to find your case quickly.
Contact us by post
Write to us at Complaints Team, Havering Town Hall, Main Road, Romford RM1 3BB.
The Stage 2 review process
For those complaints which progress to Stage 2, we will:
- acknowledge those complaints within 5 working days
- conduct a further thorough and proportionate investigation
- try to give you a full, clear and honest answer within 20 working days
- let you know if we think it might take longer than 20 working days to respond
If you remain dissatisfied following the review of your complaint, you will be informed of your right to refer the complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
They deal with complaints about a number of council services, including planning, social care, housing benefit, environment and waste, transport and highways, council tax and some education matters.