Customer service

Make a complaint

You can make a complaint if you think that we have failed:

  • to provide a service
  • to be courteous in our standard of work
  • to be courteous in our administration procedures
  • to adhere to rules and regulations
  • to provide you with the correct information
  • to treat you fairly

What should I do if I am unhappy with one of your services?

Complete our complaints form. Give us as much information as possible.

Try to tell us clearly and exactly what the problem is, how you have been affected, and what you think we should do to put things right.

We will try and sort out any mistake or misunderstanding straight away.

If the problem will take longer to sort out, we will send you an acknowledgement within 2 working days of you contacting us and respond to your complaint in full within 15 working days.

If the complaint takes more than 15 working days to resolve, we will keep in touch and tell you what is happening. We will also tell you if you have any other rights of appeal.

What can I expect?

We will consider each complaint individually.

We will act and respond in the most appropriate way. This may be an apology, a full explanation about what happened, a remedy, information about the service or details about what to do if you are still not satisfied.

What if I am still not satisfied?

If you are unhappy with our reply or the action taken, fill the complaints form in again. You should explain why you are not happy with our response or the action taken. A senior officer will investigate your complaint thoroughly and objectively.

You will get a reply within 15 working days. If the complaint takes more than 15 working days, we will tell you what is happening.

Still not satisfied?

If you have been through all stages of our complaints procedure and are still unhappy, you can ask the Local Government Ombudsman to review your complaint.

The Ombudsman investigates complaints in a fair and independent way - it does not take sides. It is a free service.

The Ombudsman expects you to have given us chance to deal with your complaint, before you contact them. If you have not heard from us within a reasonable time, it may decide to look into your complaint anyway. This is usually up to 12 weeks.

Complaining about a Councillor

Complaints about Councillors are dealt with differently: