How we deal with corporate complaints

In all cases we aim to acknowledge your complaint within two working days at both stage 1 and stage 2.

We will normally only consider complaints about things which happened in the past 12 months. However, in some cases we may be able to consider complaints outside of this period.

Make a complaint

Stage 1 - Investigation

• We aim to send you a response within 20 working days - if we cannot reply within this time, we will let you know the reason why
• We will tell you who is dealing with your complaint and when you can expect to get a response
• A service manager will investigate your stage 1 complaint
• If you are not happy with our response, we will listen to your concerns

If you are not satisfied with our stage 1 response you should contact the person named on your stage 1. You have 20 working days to escalate your complaint to stage 2.

Stage 2 - Review

• We aim to send you a response to stage 2 within 25 working days - if we cannot reply within this time, we will let you know why, and when you can expect to get a response
• A senior manager will review our response at stage 1, and then write to you with the decision for stage 2. You will be provided with information about your rights to take your complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with our final response.

View the Corporate Complaints Policy (pdf, 217 KB) for full details.

Unreasonable behaviour

We are committed to delivering excellent service to all our residents, but we know we cannot always get everything right first time. We understand and accept there may be times when we fall below our usual high standards. In those circumstances, we want to hear from you. If you make a complaint, we will do our best to resolve the issue as quickly as we can.

If you become angry or impatient with our staff whilst making a complaint, or are unreasonably persistent in your contact, we reserve the right to make use of policy on Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour (pdf, 136 KB). 

Complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

We will try our best to solve your problem, but if you are still unhappy you can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is independent and can investigate to see if a local authority has acted unfairly or if you have been caused an injustice.

You can contact the Ombudsman service at any time, but you will normally be asked to complete both stages of our complaints procedure first.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH

Telephone: 0300 061 0614

Lines are open as follows (except public holidays):

• Monday and Wednesday - 1 to 4pm
• Tuesday, Thursdays and Friday - 10am to 4pm

Annual report

View our 2023/24 Corporate Complaints report.