How we deal with corporate complaints

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.

In all cases we aim to acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days at both stage 1 and stage 2.

Make a complaint

Stage 1 - Investigation

• We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and will respond to your complaint within 10 working days. This means you will receive a response within 15 working days from the date your complaint is received.
• If your complaint is more complex and we are not able to do this, we may need to extend the timescale for an additional 10 working days and we will contact you to explain why more time is needed.
• 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. Try to let us know within 20 working days to escalate your complaint to stage 2.

Stage 2 - Review

• We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 working days and provide a written response, with a decision on your complaint, within 20 working days, following a review at stage 2. This means you will receive a response within 25 working days of receipt of your stage 2 complaint
• If your complaint is more complex and we aren't able to do this, we may need to extend the timescale for an additional 20 working days. We will contact you to explain why more time is needed
• 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.