How to make a complaint against the Council (or service)
To make a complaint about a service provided by East Staffordshire Borough Council, you can either:
- Complete and submit the Comments, compliments and complaints form online
- or, write to: Comments, compliments and complaints, PO Box 8045, Burton upon Trent, DE14 9JG
Please provide your name and a contact address or email address so that we can acknowledge receipt of the complaint and keep you informed of its progress.
Please note, the Council does not normally investigate anonymous complaints.
The Council's Complaint Procedure is detailed in the Constitution Part 4.
What happens if I complain?
We will try to sort out your complaint as quickly as possible. If we can’t sort out the matter there and then, or if you are unhappy with the response you get, you can make a formal complaint.
If you exercise your rights to complain, we will not discriminate against you in any way.
Andrea Davies deals with formal complaints.
You can contact Andrea:
- by phone on 01283 508306;
- by e-mail at complaints@eaststaffsbc.gov.uk;
- by fax on 01283 508388;
How will we deal with your complaint?
We will pass your complaint to the appropriate Department who will write to you, and do all they can to sort out the problem.
If you are unhappy with their reply, your complaint will be referred to the relevant Head of Service to be reviewed. After a full investigation the Head of Service will reply to you.
If you are still not happy, the matter will be passed to the Chief Executive.
At each stage, you will receive a reply within 10 working days.
We will try to sort out your complaint as quickly and efficiently as possible. If you want to refer the matter to your local ward councillor, please let Andrea Davies know and she will give you the contact details.
If you are still not happy at the end of the complaints procedure, you can ask for your complaint to be examined independently by the Local Government Ombudsman.
Local Government Ombudsman for England
If you have been through all stages of our complaints procedure and are still unhappy, you can ask the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to review your complaint.
The Ombudsman investigates complaints in a fair and independent way - it does not take sides. It is a free service.
The Ombudsman expects you to have given us chance to deal with your complaint, before you contact them. If you have not heard from us within a reasonable time, it may decide to look into your complaint anyway. This is usually up to 12 weeks but can be longer for social care complaints that follow a statutory process.
About the Ombudsman
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is the final stage for complaints about councils and some other organisations providing local public services. It also investigates complaints about all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) for people who self-fund their care.
Contact
- Website
- Telephone: 0300 061 0614
- Text 'call back' to 0762 481 1595
Opening hours
Monday to Friday: 10.00am to 4.00pm (except public holidays)
Unreasonable complainants and unacceptable behaviour
The Council has adopted a policy on dealing with unreasonable complainants and unacceptable behaviour.