Complaints policy

Complaint handling and outcomes

All complaint responses, whether at Stage 1 or Stage 2, will have an outcome finding of either:

• upheld – we accept we were at fault in all or most areas raised in your complaint or these had a significant impact on you or the wider public.
• partially upheld – we found we acted without fault in most areas raised in your complaint and these had very little impact on you or the wider public.
• not upheld – we found we acted without fault in all areas raised in your complaint.
• resolved – action to resolve your complaint and did not have to investigate further to decide whether we acted with fault.

In addition, our response will include:

• details of any remedy or actions needed to put things right, including timescales
• details of the measure taken to prevent the same issues from happening again
• how to escalate your complaint to the next stage

Format of our response

When we send our response at stage 1 or stage 2, you can expect it to include:

• the complaint stage
• the complaint definition
• our decision
• the reasons for our decision
• the details of any remedy offered to put things right

We will use objective, respectful language in our response and avoid speculation or blame. Where accounts differ, we will explain the evidence considered and the reasons for our decision.

Our response will normally be sent by email, unless you request it in a different format.

You can expect our reply when the answer to your complaint is known, not when any identified actions required to address the issues are completed.

If there are any actions because of your complaint, we will track these and provide you regular updates.

An appropriate manager will have oversight of the complaint response and should your complaint escalate to stage 2, a more senior manager will have oversight.

Complaints that cross council services

Sometimes a complaint involves more than one service. In these instances, we will issue one response, usually from the service that has the most substantive part of the complaint. This may not always be possible, for example, if your complaint is about social care and housing, it may be more appropriate to offer two responses which are governed by the relevant complaints process.

Help us to help you

When we receive your complaint, we may need to contact you to request further information or details. This is to help us understand the background to your complaint and the remedy you are seeking. Please help us to help you by responding to these requests. If we don’t receive a response from you, we will close your complaint.

We believe that all complainants should have the right to be heard, understood and respected. However, our staff also have the same rights. We, therefore, expect you to be polite and courteous in your dealings with us. We will not tolerate aggressive or abusive behaviour, unreasonable demands or unreasonable persistence.