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Receipt of Complaint
All initial complaints received by phone, email, fax or in person will be dealt with at Stage 1of the Council’s complaint procedure.
Stage 1
The First stage of our complaints procedure
Acknowledgment letter
An acknowledgement letter will be sent within 5 calendar days of receiving a complaint. This letter will give the name of the Manager investigating the complaint and the date that the customer should receive their response.
Stage 1 Response
How the process works:
The Stage 1 response will be sent to the customer once all investigations are complete. The response will give an overview of the complaint and will provide the customer with a full response of their findings.
Complaints should be responded to within 28 calendar days from the date they are received. If this timescale cannot be met a pending letter will be sent. This should be sent at the time at which the need for extension is identified giving a new response date and clearly stating the reason(s) for the delay.
Enclosed with the Stage 1 Response will be an Equalities form and a Customer Satisfaction form.
What you can expect in your response
A balanced approach will be taken to handling the complaint providing both an account of what happened and, where appropriate, actions taken. The response will be focused on the specific issues raised by the customer. In particular:
- Where there has been a service failing, a clear apology and an account of corrective actions taken (or that will be taken) will be provided with associated time frames.
- Where the customer is dissatisfied because their expectations are greater than the agreed standards and/or entitlement for service delivery, this will be clearly explained. The customer will be assured that the information provided through their complaint will be used to assist the Council to identify future priorities and relevant opportunities for further involvement in service planning and consultation will be offered where appropriate.
- An offer to contact the service manager for further discussion where the customer is satisfied with the response but has further queries or is undecided as to whether to escalate the complaint to stage 2.
- Advice on how to escalate the complaint to stage 2.
Why we take this approach
It is important that the quality of all stage 1 responses is excellent so as to satisfy as many customers as possible and ensure that recourse to stage 2 complaints is not required.
Stage 2
If the customer is not satisfied with the response to their complaint, they may request from the Council’s Chief Executive, via the Corporate Complaints Team, a review of the Service Area’s findings and actions. How – by phone, fax or letter?
Acknowledgment Letter
An acknowledgement letter will be sent within 5 calendar days of receiving a complaint. This letter will give the name of the Complaints Investigation Officer dealing with your complaint and the date that the customer should receive their response.
Stage 2 Response
The Stage 2 Response will be sent to the customer by the Complaints Investigation Officer after all investigations have been completed, including a review of work undertaken through Stage 1. The response will give an overview of the complaint and will provide the customer with a full response of their findings and recommended actions.
Complaints should be responded to within 35 calendar days from the date they are received. If this timescale cannot be met due to the nature of the complaint, a pending letter will be sent giving a new response date. Enclosed with the Stage 2 Response will be an Equalities form and a Customer Satisfaction form.
The approach taken to acknowledge, investigate and respond to the complaint reflects the requirements of the stage 1 complaint but this work is led by the Corporate Complaints team, thus offering a review, which is external to the service area(s) which are the subject of the complaint.
Local Government Ombudsman
If the customer is not satisfied with the response from the Complaints Investigation Officer they may refer their complaint to the local Government Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is independent and will investigate all claims of maladministration (i.e. delay, procedures not being followed or unfair treatment). A complaint may be made to the Ombudsman at any time, but if the Council's complaints procedure has not been used it is possible that the Ombudsman will ask the Council to put it through their procedure.
