Customer Feedback - Help us to get it right

Cannock Chase Council is committed to providing high-quality, accessible and affordable services to all of its customers.

There are times when we do things well, but we accept that there may also be times when things go wrong and you are left unhappy or dissatisfied.

We value your feedback and want to hear from you whether you have a comment, compliment or complaint about our services.

Compliments

If you would like to let us know about something you feel we have done particularly well, please do so via our online form.

Complaints Procedure

For details on how the Council will respond to comments or complaints about the services it provides as a social landlord, please see the Housing complaints page (opens in new tab).

The following procedure sets out how we will respond to your concerns and complaints regarding our services.

Service Request

A service request is defined as a request that the Council improves a service, fixes a problem or reconsiders a decision.  The quickest way to let us know of any concerns is by contacting the relevant service department directly.  

If you do not have a specific contact, then ask to speak to someone in the service area you are concerned with.  If that person is unable to resolve the matter, then you may be referred to a supervisor or manager or advised that your concerns will be raised as a complaint.

Complaints

What we mean by a complaint:

A complaint can be defined as "an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the Council, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual or group of individuals".

Examples include:

  • if you are unhappy with a service we have provided or we have failed to provide that service
  • if a member of our staff has been rude or unhelpful
  • if we have not followed our own policies and procedures resulting in a negative outcome

The following will not be treated as a complaint:

  • if you disagree with a decision of the Council, which has been taken in accordance with our policies and procedures.
  • where you have a right of appeal or review, whether internally to another person or body within the Council, or externally to some other person or body. 
  • where legal proceedings have started in respect of the matter.
  • where the matter has already previously been considered under the complaints policy.

If your complaint relates to the Conduct of a Member(s) please use the following link - Complaints - Council Members

The Council will not deal with anonymous complaints unless they raise serious issues about the conduct of an officer, member or the Council, such as criminal or unlawful behaviour. 

It is important that your complaint is made promptly to ensure that it can be properly investigated and so that we can provide a remedy if appropriate. We would expect a complaint to be made within 1 month unless there is a good reason for the delay. Complaints about incidents occurring more than 12 months ago will not normally be accepted.

How the Complaints Procedure works

In making a complaint it will be useful for you to give specific examples of what has happened and who was involved, dates that any incident took place, and relevant background information (such as letters or emails) and an understanding of what you would like to achieve by making the complaint.

You may wish to give us additional information whilst your complaint is going through the process.  If the information is related to the original issue, we'll add this to your complaint and take it into account when we respond to you.  If the information is not related to your original complaint, we'll log it as a separate and new complaint.

Stage 1 - Making a Complaint

To make a complaint you can: do this:

We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days of receipt and will provide you with a full response within a further 10 working days. It is, however, important to note that there are some occasions when a full response cannot be provided within this timeframe due to the complexity of the issues raised. We will keep you informed should an extended timeframe be anticipated.

Stage 2 - Review

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your formal complaint, you can request that it is reviewed by a senior manager.  The review will be carried out by a different officer than the one who responded to your Stage 1 complaint.

You can request a review in the following ways:

  • if you have already complained in writing at Stage 1, you can ask the person dealing with it to pass it to Complaints.
  • Use our formal complaints form, or email the details of your review request to ceoformalenquiries@cannockchasedc.gov.uk
  • Send it as a letter by post or deliver it by hand addressed to Complaints, Cannock Chase District Council, Beecroft Road, Cannock, WS11 1BG.

We'll acknowledge your complaint within five working days of you escalating it.  Stage 2 is a review of how adequate the Stage 1 response was, as well as any new and relevant information that we have not considered.  It is not a more thorough, detailed investigation of your complaint.

We will provide a full and final response to your complaint within 20 working days of acknowledging it.  If your complaint requires a complex investigation, we can extend the response timescale by a further 20 working days.  This will allow us to provide you with the best response possible, and we will contact you to explain if this is the case.

The Stage 2 response should be a full and final response to the complaint and should clearly set out:

  • the final decision on your complaint
  • that it is the Council's final response
  • details of any remedy offered or actions it will take
  • details of how to bring your complaint to the relevant Ombudsman Service for investigation
  • contact details for the relevant Ombudsman Service

If you remain dissatisified with the findings at Stage 2, you can refer your complaint to the relevant Ombudsman for independent review.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO)

Our complaints procedure ends at Stage 2. However, if you are not satisfied with our response, you can take things further by contacting the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at www.lgo.org.uk. The Ombudsman is totally independent of the District Council and has a legal duty to investigate complaints about local councils.  

The Ombudsman will only usually investigate a matter once the Council’s own complaints process has been exhausted.  There are some limits on what the Ombudsman can look at.  For example, the Ombudsman may not consider your complaint if you have not been significantly personally affected by the issue you are raising, or if you have a right of appeal to a court or tribunal.

Whilst the majority of complaints will be under the jurisdiction of the LGO, there are some issues that need referring to the Housing Ombudsman (housing-ombudsman.org.uk), or jointly considered by the two Ombudsman.  We will advise you which Ombudsman to go to when you receive our final Stage 2 response.  Summaries of the complaints each Ombudsman deal with are found on their webpages:

Please note that complaints that a Councillor has breached the Code of Conduct for Members are dealt with under a different procedure that can be found under Part 5 of the Council’s Constitution.

Unreasonably Persistent and/or vexatious complaints and unreasonable behaviour

Handling such complaints can place strain on time and resources and can be stressful for staff dealing with these complex and challenging issues.  In order to counter this, we will decide how to manage direct communication with the customer if matters are repeatedly raised or widely escalated.  We may decide to limit or cease further contact with customers if we consider they are behaving unreasonably by making persistent or vexatious complaints.  We may also redirect email or other correspondence received to a single point of contact.

Unreasonable and unreasonably persistent complainants are those who, because of the nature or frequency of their contacts with an organisation, hinder the organisation’s consideration of their, or other people’s, complaints.

The Council will not tolerate rude, offensive, abusive, threatening or intimidating behaviours towards its staff or Councillors and will act where appropriate to report such behaviours to the Police and may restrict or prohibit access to Council premises or staff where necessary to protect Council staff, Councillors or other people using Council premises.

For further detail's on the Council's policy, please see the Unacceptable Actions by Complainants Policy.

Submit a compliment, comment or complaint here

 

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