Comments, compliments and complaints

How to report a problem and who to contact with complaints about council services.

Report it

Before making a complaint, have you contacted the service in question to resolve your issue? If you're contacting us about an issue for the first time, please get in touch with the service directly so that we have the opportunity to put things right.

Services with separate complaints procedures

The services below deal with complaints in different ways. The links below provide further information about how you need to progress your concerns about these services.

• Adult social care
• Children's social care
• Council tenants
• Councillors
• Complaints - advocacy
  

If you've tried reporting the problem through these methods and it hasn't been resolved, you can complete the form below to make a complaint.

How we deal with complaints

All other complaints, or an issue that hasn't been resolved after reporting it, follow our corporate complaints process. This explains how we'll deal with a complaint.

Making a complaint should not be your first step to resolving your issue. If you haven't already done so, please see our report it page to find out how to raise an issue with services.

Telling us about your issue will not have a negative effect on the service you receive. We welcome any feedback that helps us improve and maintain standards.

This process is for you to make a complaint about service delivery, such as trouble using the online bidding system or repeatedly missed bin collections. There are two stages to our complaints procedure - download a PDF version of this complaints procedure

Stage 1 - we try to resolve issues quickly and will try to resolve things informally whenever possible. When we receive your complaint we will acknowledge this within five working days.

Your complaint will be directed to the manager responsible for the service you're complaining about, and they have 10 working days to respond to your concerns.

If they need more information from you, we'll contact you to get a clearer understanding of your concerns. They'll provide a full response and explain any changes which may result from your complaint. They'll also tell you how to take the matter further if you're not happy with our response.

Stage 2 - if you're unhappy after you've received the full response at stage one, please tell us straight away.

We'll acknowledge this within five working days and the complaint will be directed to someone senior to the officer who responded at stage one. We aim to provide a full response to your complaint within 20 working days.

If you are still not happy with our response, you can then complain to the ombudsman

This process will not be used if there's a more appropriate way of dealing with your concerns, for example:

• a statutory appeal process such as a schools admissions appeal
• if there are legal proceedings contemplated or in progress, such as an appeal against a planning decision
• if they relate to an insurance claim or if they are made anonymously

Make a comment, compliment or complaint

Now that you understand the procedure, if you wish to make a comment, give a compliment or make a complaint about a service provided by us, please click the green button below to complete our online form. 

Alternatively, please contact us using the details below.