Complaints

If you are not satisfied with the service you have received from us, you may feel that you wish to make a complaint.

A complaint may be raised by anyone who considers they have been affected by:

• the council's action or lack of action
• or by the standard of a council service.

This may be services delivered directly by the council, or another organisation delivering services on the council's behalf.

What is considered a complaint?

• Incorrect or poor delivery of a service.

• Failure of council staff to follow the correct policy or procedure.

• A member of council staff (or any of our contractors or agents) behaving inappropriately.

• Refusal of the council to provide a service which it should be providing.

What is not considered a complaint?

If for any reason we decide not to deal with a complaint, we will explain why in writing. Our complaints policy sets out what will not be considered as a complaint. Some examples of what is not considered a complaint are:

• Initial requests for service or information - for example, the first report of a missed bin is a request for service.

• Matters of law or policy.

• Disagreements with a council decision where an appeals process is offered or a statutory right of appeal exists.

• Complaints about services provided by other organisations (in these circumstances, we will always try to help you identify the right organisation to make the complaint to).

• The issue of concern is already being addressed by legal proceedings.

• Vexatious complaints (please refer to the Vexatious and Persistent Behaviour Policy).

Time limit for making complaints

It is easier for the council to find out what happened and to put things right if complaints are received at the time the issue happened. For these reasons, we will normally only accept complaints made within six months of the incident or circumstances that led to it.