How will the Council deal with my complaint?

South Holland District Council aims to acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days following receipt of your complaint. The Commission of Local Administration in England believes it should take no longer than 12 weeks from receipt of a complaint to resolution.

Our complaints procedure

South Holland District Council has two stages to its complaints procedure:

• Stage one
  At this stage an officer from the relevant service area will be responsible for investigating the complaint and responding directly to you. Most complaints are sorted out quickly and amicably at this stage.
  
  Within 15 working days - we aim to have your complaint investigated and a response sent to you. Some complaints may take more time to investigate, but we will keep you informed of our actions and the progress we have made.
   
• Stage two
  If you remain unsatisfied with the response you have received at stage one, you can escalate your complaint to stage two of the Procedure. At this stage the complaint will be forwarded to the Service Manager for investigation and you will receive a response from the service Assistant Director/Director. 
  
  It is important that you give your reason(s) why the complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction during stage one. Although the final report would normally be sent to you within 20 working days, where a complaint is particularly complex, it may be necessary to extend this period. In such cases you will be informed about delays and the reason for them. 
  
  Stage two marks the final investigation of a complaint by the Council.

If your complaint is considered to be justified, you will receive, at least, an apology. Whenever it is in the Councils power to do so, appropriate remedial action will be taken. In some cases financial compensation may be awarded. Our aim is to resolve the root of the problem and, when appropriate, to change the way we work to provide a better service in the future.

South Holland District Council hopes that your complaint will be resolved to your satisfaction. However, if you are still not happy after both stages of this procedure, you can ask the Local Government Ombudsman, an independent organisation, to investigate your complaint. The Ombudsman will normally expect a complaint to have gone through the Councils own complaint process before investigating individual cases.

• The Local Government Ombudsman
  PO Box 4771
  Coventry
  CV4 0EH
• Call 0300 061 0614
• Visit