Making a complaint
Our first aim always is to find an opportunity to resolve someone’s concern to their satisfaction before it becomes a complaint.
Most ‘service issues’ can be resolved quickly by reporting the problem directly to the department responsible.
If the problem you told us about has not been resolved and you continue to be unhappy about the issue or the way we have managed it, you can make a complaint.
A complaint could include any of the following concerns:
- A customer cannot access a service
- The Council delays or fails to deliver a service
- The Council provides a poor-quality service
- The Council reduces or withdraws a service
- A member of staff’s attitude or competence causes concern
- The Council fails to meet their statutory responsibilities
There are some things that we don’t accept as a complaint under our Complaints Procedure:
- A first request for service
- A query about service provision
- A query about progress of a specific issue
- A suggestion for service improvement
- Complaints made on behalf of individuals who have no knowledge of the complaint being made or have not agreed to one being submitted.
- Complaints against schools (they have their own complaints procedure)
- Complaints against Councillors (they have their own complaints procedure)
- Complaints about correctly applied Council policy and the law
- Complaints where legal proceedings have started, or court or tribunal action is being taken
- Employee complaints about the terms and conditions of employment, working conditions or personnel issues which come under the Employee Complaints Procedure
- Matters which are subject to an insurance claim
- A complaint that has already been responded to under the Complaints Procedure
- A request for enforcement action by the Council e.g. Noise nuisance
- Where the outcome is considered too unrealistic
- It is not regarding a service provided by the Council
- There is an alternative option for resolution e.g. a statutory or internal appeals process
- Where the incident that the complaint refers to is more than 12 months old
- A complaint about a Planning decision, as there is a specific legal process to follow
- An appeal of a decision where there is no fault in the way the decision has been made
