“People will find it easy to complain and get things put right when the service they receive is not good enough.”
- We are committed to dealing effectively with any concerns or complaints you may have about our service
- We aim to clarify any issues about which you are not sure and If possible, we’ll put right any mistakes we may have made.
- We will provide any service you’re entitled to which we have failed to deliver.
- We also aim to learn from our mistakes and use the information we gain to improve our services.
- If we got something wrong, we’ll apologise and where possible we’ll try to put things right
Have you asked us yet?
If you’re approaching us for a service for the first time, (e.g. reporting a faulty street light, requesting an appointment etc.) this policy doesn’t apply.
You should first give us a chance to respond to your request.
If you make a request for a service and then are not happy with our response, you will be able to make your concern known as we describe below.
Informal Resolution
If possible, we believe it’s best to deal with things straight away rather than try to sort them out later.
Attempt to raise it with the person you’re dealing with and they will try to resolve it for you there and then. If the member of staff can’t help, they will explain why and you can then ask for a formal investigation.
Dealing with your concerns or complaints
- Formally acknowledge your concern / complaint within 5 working days and let you know how we intend to deal with it.
- Discuss your communication preferences and establish whether you have any particular requirements i.e. disability.
- Deal with your concern in an open and honest way.
- Ensure that your future dealings with us don’t suffer because you have expressed a concern or made a complaint.
Normally, we will only be able to look at your concern / complaint if you tell us about them within 6 months;this is because it’s better to look into your concerns while the issues are still fresh in everyone’s mind.
Over this period, we will need to have sufficient information and strong reasons about the issue to allow us to consider it properly. In any event, regardless of the circumstances, we will not consider any concerns about matters that took place more than three years ago.
What if there is more than one body involved?
If your complaint covers more than one body (e.g. Housing Association and Council re noise nuisance) we will usually work with them to decide who should take a lead in dealing with your concerns. You will then be given the name of the person responsible for communicating with you while we consider your complaint.
If the complaint is about a body working on our behalf (e.g. repair contractors, Scheme Manager) you may wish to raise the matter informally with them first. However, if you want to express your concern or complaint formally, we will look into these ourselves and respond to you.