What is a complaint?

You make a complaint when you are not happy with the standard of service you have had from us. This will affect you or your family and friends, and will need a particular response from us.

We will not treat certain issues as complaints, and where this is the case we will tell you.

Here are some examples of the kinds of things we will not treat as complaints.

If you ask us for a service. For example if you want to report a faulty street light that needs attention.

If you ask us for information or an explanation of council policy or practice. For example if you want information on our winter gritting policy for icy roads and pavements.

An issue that is being dealt with in court. For example if we are prosecuting someone in the magistrates' court for giving a false trade description, or if we are involved in a dispute with over the ownership of land that is being contested in the county court.

If it is not clear, we will treat an issue as a complaint. We would still like you to tell us about any issues that we would not treat as a complaint because we can deal with them under our People and Service First guide for staff. If you complain to us, but don't give us your name, we will not deal with your complaint under the complaints procedure. However, we will take steps to deal with the problem.