Make a formal complaint
We are committed to delivering an excellent service. We would like to hear from you if you are not happy with something the Council has done, or you have not received a response from something you have asked us to do. We want to learn from and act on your feedback.
What is a complaint?
A complaint is ‘an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual or group of individuals'.
A complaint is not:
- a request that the organisation provides or improves a service, fixes a problem, a ‘service request’ such as a missed bin collection or a pothole - instead you can use our report it process
- an appeal, such as a parking ticket
- reporting something to us
- a request to reconsider a decision
- a request for information
- a personal injury or damage claim
- a complaint about your child’s school
- a request for us to investigate staff conduct
Please also refer to the exemptions and alternatives provided in our Complaints Policy (PDF, 501KB).
Before you make a complaint
Service requests are not complaints but may contain expressions of dissatisfaction. Organisations should have the opportunity to deal with a service request before a complaint is made. If you have not already reported the issue, you can report it:
You can also raise a comment or compliment about a service or decision:
A complaint may be raised when the individual expresses dissatisfaction with the response to their service request, even if the handling of the service request remains ongoing.
Corporate complaints
The Council has several complaints procedures, there are separate ones for Schools, social care, Council housing and Councillors. All other complaints are considered under our corporate complaints policy unless an exemption applies. Your complaint will be sent to the relevant service for an investigation. There are 2 stages to making a formal complaint. Most complaints are resolved at stage 1.
Stage 1
When we have received your complaint, a manager from the service will investigate it. We aim to respond to you within 10 working days from the complaint being acknowledged, we may need to get in touch with you if we need more information. If we cannot respond to you within 10 working days, we will keep you up to date with how long it will take.
We will then send you a decision letter. This will tell you about what we have found and what we have done to resolve your complaint.
Stage 2
If you are not happy with what we have done at stage 1, you can progress your complaint to stage 2. We aim to respond to you within 20 working days of the complaint being acknowledged with a decision letter. This can be extended by a further 20 working days or more if the complaint is complex, if this is the case we will keep you up to date. The letter will tell you about what we have found and what we have done to resolve your complaint.
Providing additional information
If you want to add more information to a complaint you’ve already made, please email customerservices@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk and include your original reference number.
We’ll update your complaint and let the investigator know. Adding extra details might mean the investigation takes longer. If that happens, the investigator will contact you.
Make a formal complaint
You can use our online form to make a complaint to the Council.
You will need to provide;
- the name of the service you are making a formal complaint to
- details of your complaint
- your contact details including your email address
Other complaints
If your complaint is about a service provided by one of our contractors or companies working for us, we’ll usually ask them to handle it first using their own complaints process. If you’re still unhappy after they respond, you can bring the issue back to us.
If you write to the Chief Executive or any staff member, we will deal with it in the most suitable way, as a comment, compliment, or complaint.
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
You can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at any time, however it will usually be referred to us if it has not already been through our complaints procedure.