• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z

Complaints Procedure

Please use the links below to jump to the section you wish to view, or scroll down the page to view the sections in order.

Making a complaint
The Local Government Ombudsmen
Links
Documents

Making a complaint

The initial complaint will be recorded by our Contact Centre staff, and an acknowledgement of receipt of the complaint will be sent within two working days. The complaint will then be sent onto the relevant service and the designated Investigating Officer will formally acknowledge the complaint. This formal acknowledgement will be sent within five working days of receipt of the complaint and will include the name and contact number for the Investigating Officer and the expected response time.

The Service Manager will appoint an Investigating Officer if necessary. In the event that the complaint is of a serious or complex nature, the Investigating Officer should be the Service Manager, or in certain circumstances, i.e. the complaint is directed at the Service Manager, an Investigating Officer will be appointed from another service unit by the Chief Executive.

The investigation will be completed and a full response provided to the complainant within a total of 20 working days. Where this is not possible an extension of time will be recorded and the Investigating Officer will send a letter to the complainant providing the reasons for the extension.

On completion of the investigation, a report will be submitted to the Service Manager or Chief Executive as appropriate. The Investigating Officer will respond to the complainant on behalf of the Service Manager or in the event that the complaint was directed at the Service Manager, the response will be sent by the Chief Executive.

If the complainant is not satisfied with the response received and they feel that the problem has not been sorted out, a request to progress the complaint to Stage 2 must be made within 28 days of the response.

In the event that a complaint is made against the Chief Executive or Deputy Chief Executive, the complaint should be addressed to the Council's Monitoring Officer who will discuss the appropriate procedure with the Leader of the Council.

The full complaints procedure, including the complaints form, can be found at the end of this page.

Local Government Ombudsmen

The Local Government Ombudsmen (LGO) investigate complaints of injustice arising from maladministration by local authorities. The Ombudsmen can investigate complaints about how the council has done something. But they cannot question what a council has done simply because someone does not agree with it.

All complaints must come through the Council's own complaints process before the Local Government Ombudsman can investigate the matter themselves. Any 'premature' complaints received will be handled by their Advice Team, and will be referred back to us for investigation.

From 1 April 2008, the contact details for the Local Government Ombudsman will be:

Telephone: Mon-Fri 8.30am to 5pm, 0845 602 1983
Address: Local Government Ombudsman, PO Box 4771, Coventry CV4 0EH
Email: advice@lgo.org.uk
Text: 0762 4804323
Web: http://www.lgo.org.uk

Current Ombudsman Complaints

Please use this link to view details of complaints against the council.