Children's Social Care Complaints

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 will 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 will 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 are unhappy after you have received the full response at stage 1, please tell us within 20 working days.  We will write back within 3 working days - telling you who is 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 are unhappy about.

The investigating officer will usually be a senior person from within the Children & Families department.  If the complaint concerns a child an independent person will also be appointed at this stage. This is somebody who is 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 will 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 are 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 are still not satisfied when stage 3 has been completed, you can then complain to the Local Government Ombudsman.
You can download the ‘Children & Learning department: - Social care complaints procedure’ in full via the link below.