Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Make a complaint

How the complaints process works

Tell us about a problem for the first time

Please contact the appropriate service directly to give us the opportunity to put things right before complaining. Search our website for the subject you're unhappy about or check the links on our home page.

If you weren't able to resolve the problem this way, you can make a formal complaint.

Formal complaint (Stage 1)

Make a complaint

Please explain what you are unhappy about and how you’d like us to put things right. We'll acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and give you a reference number.

The relevant service team will investigate your complaint and send you a response. This normally takes up to 20 working days.

Most complaints are resolved at this stage.

Review (Stage 2)

If you're not satisfied with the outcome of your formal complaint, you can contact us within 25 working days to ask for a review. Please state the reasons why you're not happy with our response and what you would like us to do to put things right.

A member of the complaints team will review the complaint and agree a response with the Assistant Director or Director of the relevant service.

We will normally send you the response within 25 working days.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

If you're unhappy with our response after stage 2, you can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Policies

Our Complaints Policy explains in detail how we treat complaints.

Some types of complaint are handled under different policies. These include:

Annual report

​Each year we review our performance relating to how complaints are dealt with and identify areas for improvement.