Luton Borough Council

Children's social care complaints

Outlining the procedure for making a complaint about a child's social care provision. The full procedure is available in the downloads section at the bottom of this page.

Make a comment, compliment or complaint

The three main stages to our complaints procedure

Stage 1

We always try to resolve issues quickly. On receipt of your complaint, we'll get back to you within three working days with an acknowledgement in writing and give you the name of the person dealing with it. We'll give you a full reply within 10 working days if possible, or keep you fully informed of the progress and the reasons for delay.

Stage 2

If you're unhappy after you've received the full response at stage 1, please tell us within 20 working days. We'll write back within 3 working days, telling you who's dealing with the problem and when you can expect a full reply.

The Customer Support Officer will appoint an investigating officer to investigate the issue you're unhappy about.

The investigating officer will usually be a senior person from within the Children, Families and Education department. If the complaint concerns a child, an independent person will also be appointed at this stage. This is somebody who's not connected to or employed by the local authority, but appointed by an independent organisation.

The independent person is responsible for seeing that the procedure and investigation are carried out properly. We'll give you a full reply within 25 working days, if possible, or keep you fully informed of the progress and the reasons for the delay.

Stage 3

If you're not happy with the full response at stage 2, please write to us again within 20 working days. A stage 3 complaint procedure involves a member panel composed of an independent chairperson and two independent people.

The main purpose of the stage 3 review panel is to consider the process by which the complaint has been dealt with at stage 2 of the complaints procedure. The panel will not reinvestigate the substance of your complaint.
However, if you're still not satisfied when stage 3 has been completed, you can then complain to the Local Government Ombudsman.
Download the children's social care complaints procedure in full below.

Downloads

Children's social care complaints procedure

281.5 kB

Contact info

Customer Service
Luton Borough Council Town Hall George Street Luton LU1 2BQ
Tel: 01582 546398

[email protected]