Children's Social Care - Complaints, Compliments and Suggestions

Any child, young person or someone acting on behalf of a child or young person has the right to make a complaint about a service they have received or are receiving from Children and Young People's Services.

• You can make an complaint or suggestion online using our form.

If you need any further information or advice please contact Complaint Team:

• Email: cyps-complaints@rotherham.gov.uk
• Tel: 01709 823738

If you make a complaint it will not affect any of the services you get or may get in the future.

What to do if you are unhappy about a service that you or your child have received

In order to resolve a problem or concern, you can:

• Speak to someone you trust e.g. Social Worker, Teacher, Foster Carer, Right2Rights officers
• Get in touch with the Complaints and Customer Service Team
• The Council's complaint procedures can be viewed on the Corporate Complaints Leaflet

What will happen when you make a complaint
Children & Young People's Social Care Services have a separate complaints procedure: 

At Stage 1 of our Complaints Procedure your complaint will be investigated by a Manager of the service which the complaint is about.  We will aim to give you a full response to your complaint within 10 working days.  However, if your complaint is complicated this may take up to 20 working days.

If you are unhappy with the response to your complaints, you can ask for your complaints to be looked at further.

At Stage 2 of our Complaints Procedure, we will appoint someone independent from the Council to investigate your complaint.  We will also appoint a seperate independent person to oversee the investigation of the complaint, if this is necessary.  We will aim to give you a full response to your complaint within 20 working days.  However, if your complaint is complicated this may take up to 65 working days.

If you are still unhappy with the response you received, you can ask for your complaints to be considered at a Stage 3 Review Panel.

At Stage 3 of our complaints procedure a review panel will be set up to carry out a review of your complaint.  The review panel will consist of 3 independent people.  There are different time stages to the Review Panel process which in total take up to 50 working days.

You can choose to take your complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman at any time.  The Ombudsman usually wants the Local Authority to have sufficient opportunity to investigate and resolve your complaints before they get involved.