How to make a complaint

We always try to give our customers the best possible service. We want our residents to be satisfied with our services. We welcome your feedback and use this information to learn and improve for the future.

What is a service request?

Before submitting a complaint, we ask that you let us know if there is an issue we need to put right. This is known as a service request. If you would like to report something to us, here are a few of our top tasks:

You can view a full list of our online forms.

How do service requests differ from complaints?

A service request is not a complaint - it is a request for us to do something for you.

When we receive your complaint, we may feel that we can act to resolve it immediately. We may also find that we were not aware of the problem in your complaint and can resolve it through a service request. In either case, we may reclassify your complaint to a service request.

If this happens, we will contact you to tell you this, and explain how and who will respond to your service request.

What is a complaint?

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about the standard of service, actions, or lack of action. If you have reported an issue to us and you do not think we have taken appropriate action or responded in a suitable way, you can make a complaint to let us know what you think has gone wrong. If you would like to make a formal complaint there are two stages.

Please note: we cannot investigate an anonymous complaint as we cannot assess the injustice caused to the complainant. If you would like your complaint investigated you must, as a minimum, provide us with your name and address, or email address.

Anonymous children's social care complaints

If you are trying to make a children’s social care complaint anonymously, please consider if this is likely to be a safeguarding issue, and not a complaint.

See report a concern about a child.

Stage 1 - Making a formal complaint to the service area

The first stage will go to the service area where they will launch an investigation and decide on the most appropriate course of action.

Before you fill in this form

You won't be able to save this form to complete later, so please allow yourself five minutes to fill in the form.

We aim to acknowledge your complaint within five working days and the relevant service manager will then respond to your complaint within 10 working days.

If your complaint is very complicated, we may need more time, but we will let you know if this is the case.

For complaints about children's services, if the complaint relates to a specific child, please include their name and date of birth in your complaint.

Make a complaint

Some complaints about children's services will fall within the statutory process under the Children Act 1989. Your acknowledgement will tell you whether your complaint falls within the statutory or corporate process.

Individual schools have their own complaints process which can be found on their websites or by contacting the school. Many schools have their contact information on our directory.

More information on the complaints procedure

Escalating your complaint

Escalating to Stage 2.