How we deal with complaints
Early resolution
When you first contact us, we’ll check if your concern can be resolved quickly as a service request.
A service request is when you ask us to:
- provide or improve a service
- fix a problem
- reconsider a decision.
This is often the fastest way to sort things out.
If your issue can’t be resolved this way, or you’re not happy with the response, we’ll treat it as a formal complaint.
Formal complaints – Adult Social Care
Stage 1: Investigation
Once we receive your complaint:
- we’ll assign it to an investigating officer from the relevant service
- we’ll send you an acknowledgement
- we’ll explain what we’re investigating and when you’ll get a response.
We aim to reply within 25 working days.
How to contact us
You can:
- complete our complaints form, or
- find other ways to contact us.
What happens next
After the investigation:
- we’ll send you a response explaining what we found
- we’ll tell you what we’re doing to fix the issue
- we’ll let you know what to do if you’re still not satisfied
- we may offer further clarification if needed.
If you're still not happy
You can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).
The Ombudsman checks if public services have followed the right steps. It’s not a second stage of appeal.
The Ombudsman may decide:
- not to investigate if you haven’t been personally affected
- to write to you explaining its decision.
Contact the Ombudsman
- Website: https://www.lgo.org.uk/how-to-complain
- Phone: 0300 061 0614
Once your complaint is with the Ombudsman, we won’t be able to discuss it with you directly. All communication will go through them.
Complaints about other adult services
If your complaint is not about social care, but relates to other services we provide (like financial support or homelessness advice), we’ll follow our standard complaints procedure.