Customer complaints

You can register a formal complaint to us about council services.

Contents

How to appeal our decision about your complaint

To be considered for an appeal, you need to have submitted a complaint and received our response. This is known as a stage 1 complaint.

You then have 28 days to submit an appeal. This is known as a stage 2 complaint. The review will be undertaken by a member of our Corporate Leadership Team.

A stage 2 appeal must meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • We made our decision based on inaccurate facts that could change our decision.
  • You have new and relevant information that was not previously available, and which might change our decision.
  • We overlooked or misunderstood parts of your complaint.
  • We did not take account of relevant information that could change our decision.

What happens after your appeal

For stage 2 appeals, we will aim to:

  • acknowledge and log the appeal request within five working days of receipt
  • fully investigate and respond to the accepted appeal within 20 working days of it being logged

It may not be possible to respond within the 20-day period, due to the complexity of a complaint, the absence of a key officer or another specific reason. In this case, we will contact you to let you know when you can expect a reply.

You will always be notified of any changes to the standard response target.