Complaints, comments and compliments

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Introduction

We value your feedback on our services, both positive and negative. Whether we have got something right, or could have done something better, we would like to hear what you think of our services.

Use the online service below to complain about a service, send us your comments or give us a compliment.

Before making your complaint

Please contact us first if you encounter any problems, instead of raising a complaint right away. This will give us an opportunity to put things right. We ask that you only make a complaint where the issue is recurring and remains unresolved.

The best way to let us know about any problems or issues (like a pothole in the road, an environmental health issue or a broken street sign) is to report them online. This way, the right team will get your report right away. For example, our Waste Team will get your report about a missed waste collection as soon as you submit it.

If you want to tell us about a problem, you can use our Contact us page. Choose the service that the problem relates to and then click on the ‘Report it’ link to inform us of the problem.

Make a complaint

When you are unhappy with a service you can make a complaint. The service will investigate your complaint and will aim to reply within 10 working days.

Use the button below to give us your feedback about our services including Adult Social Care and Children’s Social Care (not schools). See the next section for information on school complaints.

Make a complaint, comment or compliment

School complaints

We do not manage school complaints. School complaints are managed by the headteacher and governors. You should contact the school first if you have any issues, queries or complaints. If this does not sort out the problem, you should follow the school’s complaints procedure. You should be able to find this on the school’s website, or you can contact the school directly.

How we will deal with your complaint

If you have a complaint, it is far easier to find out what happened and put things right if you tell us straight away. If you wait too long, it becomes more difficult to investigate events fairly and fully. People’s memories fade, staff who were involved leave the Council or records may no longer be available. For these reasons, we will usually only accept complaints made within twelve months of the incident or circumstances that led to the complaint.

If your complaint is older than twelve months, please contact us so that we can tell you about other ways that might still be available to solve your problem.

When we receive your complaint, it will be sent to the service you are complaining about for them to investigate and respond to you. They understand the issues involved and are best placed to put things right as quickly as possible. We will aim to reply to your complaint within 10 working days. If we need more time, we will tell you.

If you feel there are reasons why you cannot resolve your complaint with the service, please contact us and we will discuss this with you and agree how to proceed.

If you want some independent help or support to complain, there are different advocacy options in Somerset. We can direct you to groups that might help you.

What the Council considers to be a complaint

A complaint can be many things, and some possible situations are listed below.

For example, you could be dissatisfied about:

The standard of service you have received from us
Our response to a request for service
Our actions
The behaviour of a member of staff
Harassment, bias or unfair discrimination, for example, this could include anti-Semitism as defined under the internationally recognised definition. Please see antisemitism.uk/definition/. We promise to investigate and seek to put right any unfairness or unfair discrimination.

We do not mean

An initial request for a service, such as reporting a faulty streetlight or a pothole. We must have had the chance to provide the service or put something right, which we can only do if we have received a request or been told about a problem.
Where a separate appeals procedure exists or a legal remedy is open to you, for example planning applications, or school admissions policy.
When you are unhappy about policies set by Somerset Councillors, for example a budget decision which changes the services available or how they are delivered.
Insurance claims relating to alleged damage or injury. These will be dealt with by the Council’s insurance section.
If your complaint is about policies set by other organisations.
When your complaint is about alleged serious misconduct by an employee of the Council. This will be dealt with through our internal procedures, as it would not be appropriate to deal with the issue through the complaint’s procedure. We will not provide details or the outcome of those internal procedures, but we will let you know once internal processes are complete

What to do if you disagree with our decision

If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can get in touch with us to escalate the matter. We will identify what you think has been overlooked and the parts of the response you dispute. Depending on the situation, mediation or dispute resolution may be the best ways to resolve complaints. Alternatively, the Customer Experience Team may conduct a review, which will examine the issues you initially raised, the response you received and address the matters that you feel have not been resolved properly. We aim to give you a full response within 20 working days, whichever option is chosen. We will keep you informed of our progress and notify you if there is any delay.

If you are still unhappy with our decision, you can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at any time to ask if they would conduct an independent investigation. They will not normally investigate your complaint until the Council has had the opportunity to fully investigate it.

You can contact them on the Local Government and Social care Ombudsman website and complete in an online complaint form, or you can phone them on 0300 061 0614 – Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.

Housing Ombudsman

Complaints about the Council in its role as a social landlord and its responsibilities for leasehold housing, are dealt with according to the law.

The Housing Ombudsman is on hand to provide residents with advice and support at any stage of the complaints process and can be contacted by:

Phone: 0300 111 3000
Email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
Website: Use the online complaints form on the Housing Ombudsman website or use their webchat.

The Housing Ombudsman is unable to investigate your complaint until the Council’s two-stage complaints process has been completed but can be approached at any time for guidance.

As a member of the Housing Ombudsman scheme, Somerset Council comply with The Housing ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code which was last revised in April 2022. We regularly check our compliance with the Complaint Handling Code through the Housing Ombudsman’s self-assessment process. A copy of our most recent self-assessment can be found at the bottom of this page. The Housing ombudsman also publish it on their  website where you can read about any findings the Ombudsman have made against us as a landlord in the last twelve months.

We are committed to providing information on this in publications shared with our tenants such as newsletters, annual reports and the Tenant Strategic Group.

Compliments and comments

It is also important for us to know about things that are going well or how the service can be improved, and to be able to give staff positive feedback.

When we receive your compliment, we will write to thank you and will pass your thanks on to all the people concerned.

Your comments will be passed to the service, and we will use these to help us improve.