The Council's complaint procedure
Three stages to the Council's 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 policy 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
The Council will nominate an appropriate officer to respond to the complaint. All Stage 1 complaints should be acknowledged within three working days and a full written reply sent within ten working days.
Stage two
If you, as the Customer, are dissatisfied with the outcome of the Stage 1 investigation, you can request the Council arrange for the complaint to be reviewed by the Chief Executive, who will decide whether the matter is to be escalated to Stage 2. A request should be made through the online form stating clearly why you are unhappy with the Stage 1 response received.
The request should be acknowledged within three working days and a full written reply sent within 25 working days.
Stage three
If you, as the Customer, are dissatisfied with the outcome of the Stage 2 investigation, you can request the Council arrange for the complaint to be reviewed by Members of the Adjudication and Review Committee. A Stage 3 form should be completed, which you can request from your Stage 2 complaint investigator.
If your complaint progresses to Stage 3, a Member Review Panel will be convened to consider your case. The matter will be dealt with informally initially. You will not be required to attend the meeting unless the complaint progresses to a formal hearing. You will learn the outcome of your Stage 3 complaint within 30 working days.
You will be told when you have exhausted the Council’s complaints procedure. If you are still unhappy with the response received, you may want to ask either the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, or the Housing Ombudsman to consider your complaint.