How we will deal with your complaint
If we can deal with your complaint, we will contact you within five working days of receipt of your call, letter or email to explain how it will be dealt with, by whom and when you can expect to receive a full reply. There are three possible stages to each complaint:
Stage one
Local resolution: complaints will be dealt with by the person who is the subject of the complaint and their line manager, as they are best placed to carry out a full investigation.
We will consider your complaint carefully and, if the matter is straightforward, we will usually send you a full reply within 20 working days. If your complaint is complicated we will contact you before we start the investigation to clarify your concerns. If we need to carry out a very detailed investigation our response may take longer than 20 working days. If this is the case, we will contact you to explain what is happening, and tell you when we will send you the full response.
If we find that your complaint is justified, you will receive an apology together with details of any other steps we will take to meet your concerns. We will also explain what we are doing to prevent the problem happening again.
Where a complaint cannot be resolved then you can ask for it to be referred to stage two. However, all efforts will be made to resolve the complaint at stage one.
Stage two
Conciliation: the Complaints Unit Manager, or another senior manager, will undertake a review of the first stage, with a particular focus on how the complaint was handled and with the aim of resolving the complaint through a process of conciliation. This will probably involve a meeting with you, which will be arranged wherever it is most convenient for you.
Where a complaint cannot be resolved then it may be referred to stage three, provided it has already been through stages one and two.
Stage three
The Independent Complaints Reviewer: If you are not satisfied with the way the Commission has dealt with your complaint at stages one or two, you can ask the matter to be referred to the Independent Complaints Reviewer (ICR). If you do not have internet access, we can send you more information on request.
The ICR will consider whether:
- your complaint has been dealt with properly
- our response was appropriate
- whether any further action is necessary.
You will be sent a report on how your complaint was handled. This will also be sent to the chief executive of the Audit Commission, along with any recommendations arising from your complaint.
Timing of complaints
In order to ensure that complaints are dealt with properly, we will not usually accept complaints that are made more than six months after the event being complained about. If your complaint is older than that, please contact the complaints unit manager, who will advise you on whether or not we will consider it.
Complaints without merit
The Commission reserves the right not to investigate complaints that it considers to be frivolous or without merit; where further investigation would not serve any useful purpose; or where it would otherwise be an inappropriate use of the complaints procedure, having particular regard to the proper use of public funds. However, a complainant then has the right to ask the Independent Complaints Reviewer to review the decision that the complaint will not be investigated. If the ICR's review finds that the complaint should have been investigated, then it will be referred to the chief executive, who will appoint an investigator to consider the complaint from stage one.
Complaints about Commissioners
The Chairman deals with responses to complaints against individual Commissioners. If a complaint is about the Chairman personally, the Deputy Chairman and another Commissioner will consider whether there is a sufficient case to warrant sending it to the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government for consideration. If there is not a sufficient case, the Deputy Chairman will decide on an appropriate response.
Further information
Where we cannot consider your complaint we will tell you why and advise which, if any, other organisations may be able to help you. Our leaflet, Routemap: your guide to complaining about local public services in England, provides details of the organisations to contact to complain about your local service. Routemap is available to download at the bottom of this page.
If you are not sure whether or not we can deal with your complaint,
please contact us anyway, and we'll be happy to advise you.