Make a complaint

We are committed to delivering high-quality services, but we know there may be times when things go wrong. We encourage complaints from our customers. If we make a mistake, we want to know about it so we can put things right.

How to make a complaint

If the service you wish to complain about follows our corporate complaints procedure, you can use our online form at the bottom of this page to submit your complaint. You can also use any of the other complaint methods.

Before you start

Important - A faulty streetlight, graffiti, an abandoned car or a missed bin collection are faults or service requests and these are handled outside of the complaints process. 

Report other concerns about our services

Which complaints procedure to follow

Make sure you are using the correct complaints procedure for the service you are complaining about. If you use the wrong procedure your complaint may be delayed.

Most complaints will come under the corporate complaints procedure outlined on these pages. However some services have a specific alternative statutory appeal or tribunal process in place to deal with complaints, as follows:

• Planning permission and planning enforcement - You can appeal a planning application decision and you can report an alleged breach of planning control
• Parking tickets/PCN appeals - If you disagree with a parking ticket (PCN) you should appeal the PCN. If you believe a PCN should be cancelled the easiest way is to submit an informal challenge 
• Housing Benefit - If you disagree with a Housing Benefit decision, please get in touch with us straightaway to appeal a Housing Benefit decision
• Council Tax Reduction - If you disagree with our decision about your Council Tax Reduction please get in touch straightaway to appeal a Council Tax Reduction decision
• Blue Badge - If you disagree with a Blue Badge decision, please get in touch with us straightaway to appeal a Blue Badge decision
• Complaints about Adults Social Care - There is a separate statutory procedure to complain about Adult Social Care
• Complaints about Children’s Social Care - There is a separate statutory procedure to complain about Children's Services
• School Admission appeals - You can appeal a school admission decision online. However, schools and their governing bodies are required to have their own complaints policy, you should contact the school directly
• Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) - If you wish to appeal a decision in relation to your child's EHCP then there is a separate right of appeal via the SENDIST tribunal, details of which can be found through Achieving for Children's Local Offer. You can make a corporate complaint if you are not happy with how your child's SEND case has been handled through our Make a complaint online form and choose Educational services (not schools) provided by AfC.
• Housing decisions -Request a housing review
• Complaints about Councillors - Complain about a councillor
• Freedom of Information requests - Complain about a Freedom of Information request
• Data protection - If you want to complain about a data protection matter you should read our data protection complaints procedure
• Data breach or security incident - You can report a data breach or other security incident
• Antisocial behaviour: You should report antisocial behaviour to the police or your housing association. There is a separate procedure for reporting antisocial behaviour on a council estate. Visit our antisocial behaviour page for more information.

If you need support

If you need help to make your complaint, there are several organisations you can approach.

You will need

You will need to supply the details of your complaint. You may wish to type this into a separate document first to avoid losing information if the form times out.

What happens next

We will let you know we have received your complaint within two working days.

More information on the complaints process can be found on How we deal with corporate complaints.

Anonymous complaints

We take all complaints seriously and accepts anonymous complaints through all methods of communication. We will ensure these are passed to the relevant services to investigate and undertake any identified actions. However, due to the anonymous nature of such complaints, we will be unable to provide a response unless a contact email or postal address is provided.

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 our policy on Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour (pdf, 129 KB). 

Privacy

The information you give is confidential. We respect your privacy and will make sure that we protect your personal information.

For information on why we collect personal information, how it is used and shared, how long it is kept, how we protect it and the legal basis for collecting it, see our privacy notice.

Start my complaint