Corporate Complaints and Compensation Policy

Contents

Our approach to complaints

We aim to provide high quality services and get things right the first time. However sometimes things can go wrong.

If this happens, we want to work with you to resolve any issues.

When we handle your complaint, we will:

  • treat you with respect
  • listen to your views
  • be polite and professional
  • be honest in any advice or responses we give you
  • apologise when things have gone wrong
  • work with you to put things right

Housing Management complaints follow separate policies because of the nature of the service.

However, we have aligned this policy as closely as possible so complaints are handled in a consistent way.

Find out more about the Housing Management complaints and compensation policies.

What a complaint is

A complaint may be about the quality of our service or contractors acting on our behalf.

“A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about a council service (whether that service is provided directly by the council or by a contractor or partner) that requires a response.”

Make a formal complaint

There is more than one way for you to contact us.

If you contact us and have not used the complaints process or have not used the word "complaint", we'll consider the issues you're raising and may still investigate it under our complaints procedure.

Some things we’ll look for when deciding whether to treat your communication as a complaint are:

  • has there been a delay which is either unreasonable or longer than the published timescale?
  • have you raised concerns about the service you have received or a decision we have made?
  • has the council not delivered on an action we agreed to do?
  • have you complained about the issue before without a full resolution?

If your request is not a complaint (for example, a service request) we will respond using the right procedure.

You can still make a complaint later if the issue is not resolved.

If you need help to make a complaint

Tell us if you need:

  • reasonable adjustments in the way we communicate with you
  • translation or interpretation services

See how you can make a formal complaint.

Who can make a complaint

You can ask someone to complain on your behalf.

If personal data needs to be shared between us and a representative, the individual must give their consent.

Complaints process

We have a two-stage complaints process.

At each stage, it helps if you tell us:

  • what happened
  • how it affected you
  • how you want us to do to put things right

If we cannot resolve things in the way you want, we will explain why.

Where possible, we’ll give you information about services or other organisations that may be able to help.

Stage one

  • a team leader or team manager will investigate your complaint
  • if your complaint is about a staff member, their manager will investigate
  • if you are unhappy with the response, tell us within 20 working days

If you need more time to contact us, let us know

Stage two

  • A senior manager will review your complaint
  • this is usually the Head of Service
  • they will need to understand why you disagree with the stage one response and any new information you want them to consider

Some complaints follow different statutory procedures, including:

  • Adults Social Care
  • Children’s Social Care

If this applies to you, we'll tell you.

Find out more about Adult Social Care complaints and Children’s Social Care complaints.

Response times

We will acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days.

Stage one

  • we aim to respond within 10 working days
  • complex cases may take up to 20 working days, we'll let you know if this is likely
  • If you're unhappy with reply, tell us within 20 working days

If you need more time to respond, let us know.

Stage two

  • we aim to respond within 20 working days
  • in some cases, it may take up to 30 working days, we'll let you know if this is likely
  • if you have told us that you would prefer to be contacted by post, it may take a little longer for you to receive letters from us

If we need more information

We might need more information from you during any stage of the complaints process.

If this happens:

  • we'll pause your complaint
  • we'll ask for this more information, it’s important you respond as soon as possible so that your complaint is not delayed
  • we'll continue investigating once we have the information we need

If we don’t hear back from you:

  • we'll write to you again
  • if there is still no repsonse, we will assume you no longer wish to make a complaint
  • we'll close your complaint and let you know

You will have 3 months from the date of our last contact with you to ask us to reopen your complaint

How we investigate complaints

We will look at:

  • what you told us as
  • the information we have
  • how you would like us to put things right 

We may:

  • contact you for more details
  • try and resolve your complaint by speaking with you
  • speak to staff involved

Once we have all the information, we will then decide:

  • if the service followed the right processes, policies and procedures
  • if we considered any guidance or legislation that may apply
  • what actions were taken and how

If we find that things did not happen as they should, we'll think about what impact this had and how we will put things right.

Complaints we cannot investigate

We cannot investigate some complaints.

If this is the case, we’ll let you know why we cannot help and any possible next steps you may wish to follow.

Some examples of complaints we cannot accept are listed below:

  • matters for which there is a statutory right of appeal, for example appealing a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) or school admissions decisions
  • complaints where the individual does not have the authority to make the complaint; and is unable to provide this
  • complaints where legal proceedings, court or tribunal action is due or already being taken (although related issues not subject to proceedings may be considered)
  • matters which are; or would be better dealt with in an insurance claim
  • issue that should be dealt with by another organisation or regulatory body
  • complaints that are submitted anonymously will not be responded to, but will be reviewed
  • complaints that are raised more than 12 months after the event (unless there is good reason to investigate)
  • complaints that have already been investigated and a final response issued
  • complaints that have already been investigated by an Ombudsman
  • enquiries or first-time requests for a service
  • reasonableness of service charges for leaseholders
  • employee complaints about terms and conditions of employment, working conditions or personnel issues which come under the employee complaint procedure
  • complaints that should be considered under our Dignity at Work or disciplinary policies for example concerns that staff have breached our code of conduct
  • complaints that are abusive, unreasonable or vexatious in nature
  • personal data and Information complaints (although related issues about the quality of service may be investigated)

Complaints about personal data or information requests

If you have a complaint about how we have processed your personal data, contact:

Data Protection Officer
Email: [email protected] 

You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

If you are unhappy with how we have handled a request for personal or public information such as:

You can raise make a complaint.

Taking your complaint further

If you've been through all stages of our complaints procedure and are not satisfied with our response, you can ask an ombudsman to review your complaint.

There are two ombudsman schemes. Both organisations are independent, impartial and free.

Housing Ombudsman

They Housing Ombudsman investigates complaints about housing organisations registered with them.

They can resolve disputes involving tenants and leaseholders of social landlords. This includes housing associations and local authorities.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman looks at individual complaints about councils and some other organisations providing local public services.

It also investigates complaints about all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) for people who self-fund their care.

How we put things right if something has gone wrong

If we find we made a mistake, we will try to put you back in the position you would have been in if the problem had not happened.

This could include:

  • providing you with the service you should be receiving
  • backdating this service or support if there was an avoidable delay

Depending on the nature of the complaint, this is not always possible. In these situations, financial compensation may be appropriate.

Financial compensation

Compensation in relation to service complaints is not offered every time we make an error but is considered when the error cannot be put right.

So, when compensation is offered, it will always be appropriate and proportionate to the circumstances.

We must think about the impact the fault has had. In some complaints we might ask for evidence to show how the problem affected you, but if this is the case, we’ll let you know.

When deciding if compensation should be offered, we'll think about the following:

  • distress
  • time and trouble
  • costs incurred due to the error
  • loss of opportunity
  • the complainant’s own actions

When deciding how much compensation is fair and reasonable, we’ll use the table below as a guide.

If we make an offer of compensation, the complainant will need to accept this within three months of the date of the offer.

In some exceptional circumstances where a debt is owed to the us, the compensation payment may be used to reduce the amount owed. Any remaining balance will be credited to the complainant.

Partial fault:

  • Low impact, £20 to £30
  • Medium impact, £50 to £100
  • High impact, £200 to £350

Full fault

  • Low impact, £30 to £50
  • Medium impact, £100 to £200
  • High impact, £350 to £500

If your complaint is about Housing Management, there is a separate compensation policy.

Read our policy for policy for Housing Management complaints and feedback.

Learning from complaints

We use complaints to improve our services.

This may involve:

  • improving processes or introducing new processes
  • improving systems
  • training staff 

From time to time, we may contact customers to get their feedback of the complaints process.

We'll use the feedback to make it quicker and easier for customers to complain and improve the overall complaints procedure.

Unreasonable or vexatious complainants

We're committed to working with complainants to resolve problems and improve services. Our aim is to be fair and consistent in the way we approach complaints and how we engage with complainants directly. In most cases we can do so.

However, as our Complaints Officers manage several cases at any one time, they need to use their time and resources to best effect in the interest of all of those who make a complaint. They cannot do so if someone tries to dominate our attention with frequent, lengthy contacts and repetitive information. This hinders the consideration of their, or other people’s complaints. There are also other actions and behaviours that affect how quickly and effectively we can resolve complaints, examples of these are cited below.

We recognise that isolated cases of the examples below should not impede our investigation of a complaint and in these circumstances, we would expect to be able continue to deal with the complaint. However, when these behaviours or actions become unreasonably persistent, they affect the way in which we can consider and respond to a complaint. In such circumstance we may determine that a complaint is unreasonable or vexatious and cannot be progressed.

Examples:

  • refusing to specify the grounds of a complaint despite offers of help
  • refusing to co-operate with the complaints investigation process while still wishing the complaint to be resolved
  • refusing to accept that issues are not within the power of the council to investigate, change or influence
  • insisting on the complaint being dealt with in ways which are not in accordance with the complaints procedure
  • making an unjustified complaint about the member of staff dealing with the complaint, and seeking to have them replaced
  • changing the basis of the complaint as the investigation proceeds
  • raising numerous detailed but unimportant questions and insisting they are all answered
  • submitting falsified documents by themselves or others
  • adopting a 'scatter gun' approach: pursuing parallel complaints on the same issue with various organisations
  • making excessive demands on the time and resources of staff dealing with the complaint for example by sending numerous and or lengthy emails; or making repeated phone calls and expecting immediate responses
  • introducing trivial or irrelevant new information during the investigation
  • denying statements made at an earlier stage in the complaint process
  • electronically recording meetings and conversations without the prior knowledge of the other person involved
  • refusing to accept the outcome of the complaint process after its conclusion or repeatedly arguing the point with no new evidence
  • making the same complaint repeatedly, perhaps with minor differences, after the complaints procedure has been concluded, and insist that the minor differences constitute 'new' complaints which should be put through the full complaints procedure

In addition to the actions above, the we will not tolerate behaviour which is considered offensive, dishonest, abusive, discriminatory, or threatening. When it occurs, we will take proportionate action to protect the wellbeing of our staff and the integrity of our processes.

How we deal with unreasonable or vexatious complainants

If we experience behaviours that are either unreasonable or vexatious in nature, the designated officer managing the complaint will contact the complainant in writing or by email to explain why this behaviour is causing concern and ask them to change it. They will explain the actions that we may take if the behaviour does not change.

If the unreasonable behaviour continues the designated officer and the relevant Head of Service will decide what restrictions to put in place. Any restriction imposed should be appropriate and proportionate. In most cases restrictions will apply for between three and six months but may be extended in exceptional cases. In such cases the restrictions are to be reviewed on a quarterly basis.

The officer is likely to consider the following restrictions, however, new complaints from people whose behaviour has previously been deemed unreasonable will be considered on their merits. Restrictions imposed in respect of an earlier complaint will not automatically apply to any new ones.

  • restricting contact by telephone except through a third party, eg solicitor/councillor/ advocate or friend acting on their behalf, with named council officers or to specified days and times
  • restricting correspondence in connection with the complaint to letter and not email
  • restricting contact only with named members of staff
  • requiring any direct face to face contact to take place in the presence of an appropriate witness
  • refusing to register and deal with further complaints about the same matter
  • advising the complainant that a designated member of staff will read all future correspondence and place it on file without acknowledgement unless it contains material new information

Once the officer has decided to apply restrictions, they will write to the complainant explaining the following:

  • why their behaviour is being treated as unacceptable
  • the action they are going to take
  • the duration of this action
  • the review process
  • enclose a copy of the policy in the letter to the complainant
  • inform the complainant how they can seek to appeal the decision if they disagree with it and the process for doing so

A copy of the letter will be shared with the Complaints Team to record and track the end date of the review. The officer will also share a copy with the wider service to ensure they are aware of the restrictions.

Within 14 days of the date of the letter advising them of the restrictions, the complainant has the right to request in writing, that the Executive Director review the decision of the officer. The decision of the Executive Director will be final and where relevant the complainant will be advised of their right to refer the matter to be investigated by the appropriate body, for example the Local Government Ombudsman or Information Commissioner’s Office.

Last updated: 26 May 2026