Social care services complaints process

• Making a formal complaint
• The complaints process
• Mediation service

Making a formal complaint

To make a complaint you can:

• tell a member of our staff that you want to make a complaint
• telephone the Customer Service Centre on 08449 80 80 80
• fill in the online complaints form.

Not everyone wants to make a formal complaint. If you have concerns about anything to do with social care and health you can ask to use our mediation service.

The complaints process has three possible stages:

Stage 1: Local resolution

A manager will contact you and try to resolve your complaint.

How long will this take?

You should receive a response from the manager within 10 working days. In complex cases, this may take up to 20 working days.

You may be offered a mediation meeting with a manager and a trained mediator to try and sort out your complaint.  

You should tell the Customer Relations Service if:

• you are not contacted within 20 working days or
• you are not satisfied with the response from the manager.

Stage 2: Formal investigation

If you are not satisfied at the end of local resolution, or if your complaint is very complex, you can ask for it to be investigated.  An investigator will:  

• look into your complaint
• write a report, and
• make recommendations.

You will get a copy of the report and we will tell you what action we can take to put things right.

If it helps to resolve your complaint you may be invited to an adjudication meeting. For more information about this see our adjudication meeting factsheet.

How long will this take?

We will try and give you a response in 25 working days. If the investigation is complicated, it can take up to 65 working days. If this is necessary we will let you know.

Stage 3: Independent review panel

You can ask for your complaint to be considered by an independent review panel if:

• you are not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation or
• we do not do what was agreed at the formal investigation stage to resolve your complaint.

You will need to contact Customer Relations Service to let them know you wish to go to an independent review panel within 20 working days of one of the above happening.

The independent review panel will look at your complaint and how it has been handled. It will make recommendations to the Strategic Director of the relevant department. The Strategic Director will write to you with a final decision and explain what we will do.

How long will it take?

This can take up to 50 working days.

If you are not satisfied with:

• the final outcome of your complaint or
• the way your complaint has been handled

you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman at any point in the process.

Mediation service

If you have concerns about anything to do with social care services you can choose to use our mediation service.  A trained mediator will work with you and the relevant manager to sort out your concerns.  If mediation does not work for you, you can still use our formal complaints process.

For more information about mediation, please contact the Customer Relations Service or see our mediation factsheet.

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