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Customer complaints and feedback

We welcome your complaints and feedback and if we are doing something wrong or that you aren't happy about, please tell us about it. Likewise if you want tell us about something we're doing well or that you like, let us know.

We monitor all complaints and feedback we receive and deal with these under our Customer Complaints and Feedback Policy (PDF File, 260kb)

The Council recognises the  importance of listening to the views of its residents about the services they receive from us. Our complaints and customer feedback policy provides the opportunity to capture, investigate, respond and learn from customer feedback to assist with the delivery and shaping of Council services in the future.

You can submit a complaint or give feedback online, by letter, telephone, email, on social media, in person or via someone working on your behalf.

Feedback for Nottinghamshire County Council

Nottinghamshire County Council deals with complaints and feedback about roads, potholes, pathways, gritting, street lighting and any other County Council service including libraries, social care and school admissions.

Make a complaint, comment or compliment about Nottinghamshire County Council

Complaints

Complaints provide an opportunity for the Council to learn from feedback and gives insight into the drivers of customer satisfaction. The Council uses complaints to review the services it delivers.

A complaint is defined as “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 resident or group of residents.”

Make a complaint online

We are committed to dealing with all complaints fairly and impartially and provide a high quality service to those who make them. However we will not tolerate unacceptable behaviour, for example, that which is abusive, offensive or threatening and we will take action to protect our staff from such behaviour. Find out more about this in our Managing unreasonable behaviour policy (PDF File, 221kb).

Complaints process

In the unlikely event that you feel that Newark and Sherwood District Council has not dealt with your comments satisfactorily, you should follow the complaints process below. If you then remain unsatisfied, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or Housing Ombudsman may be able to help you.

Complaints will not usually be accepted where the event giving rise to the complaint occurred more than 12 months ago. This is because a significant lapse of time makes a thorough and meaningful investigation more challenging.

There are two stages to the handling of a complaint:

Stage 1

  • The customer services team will send an acknowledgement of receipt of your complaint within 3 working days.
  • A senior officer will conduct a thorough investigation of your complaint and provide a response directly to you within 10 working days.
  • Where it is not possible to respond within these times, we will contact you and advise you of an estimated date of response, which will not exceed a further 10 working days without good reason.
  • If your complaint relates to your Council tenancy, the acknowledgment process for stage 1 and 2 complaints is slightly different. Prior to sending the acknowledgement, the senior officer who is investigating your complaint will contact you to discuss your complaint with you. The acknowledgement timescale for these complaints is up to 5 working days. 

Stage 2

  • If you are not happy with your Stage 1 response, you can request it progresses to Stage 2.
  • Your complaint will be referred to a director or a business manager who was not involved in Stage 1 of the complaint.
  • They will be given all the complaint information and will conduct a thorough review of the investigation and the response provided to you at Stage 1.
  • They will write to you with the outcome of their investigation within 20 working days.
  • Where it is not possible to respond within this time, we will contact you and advise you of an estimated date of response, which will not exceed a further 10 working days without good reason.

If after receiving the Stage 2 response, the complainant is still unhappy with the outcome, they can refer it to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or Housing Ombudsman.

Council Tenants who wish to complain about tenancy related matters

If you are a council tenant you may wish to complain about a matter specifically related to your tenancy. You can do this is any of the ways described above. You can also make contact with the Housing Ombudsman at any point for additional support, and do not have to complete the councils full complaints process before the do so.  

You can contact them via the Housing Ombudsman website, by calling 0300 111 3000 (lines are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, lines will be closed for staff training every Thursday from 3.30pm - 5pm) or by emailing info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk.

You can find out more about what you should expect as a tenant when making a complaint by reading the Housing Ombudsman complaint handling code.

As part of the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code, we carried out an Housing Ombudsman Self-assessment (PDF File, 351kb) in June 2024 and in September 2024, following feedback from the Housing Ombudsman, we made some amendments to our self-assessment.

There is a Compensation Policy 2024 (PDF File, 208kb) for Council tenants who wish to make a claim for compensation regarding a housing service that failed to meet the required standard.

One of the requirements of the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code, is that the Council publishes an annual review of complaints relating to housing services. This report details the number of complaints received, the response times and importantly the lessons we have learned from complaints. You can read the report here: Annual Review of Housing Services Complaints - April to March 2024 (PDF File, 215kb)

Referral to Ombudsman

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, or if your complaint is regarding your housing tenancy, the Housing Ombudsman, to review your complaint.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

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.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman looks at individual 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 details:
Website: www.lgo.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 061 0614
Opening hours: Monday to Friday: 10am to 4pm (except public holidays)

Making a complaint against a councillor

You can read the Member code of conduct for further details on how to make a complaint against a Councillor.

Planning feedback

If you have any complaints regarding the planning service, for example, how the service is provided or the conduct of an officer please provide your feedback as normal.

If you want to provide feedback relating to a planning decision or planning enforcement matter please follow our planning procedure.

Provide feedback on a planning decision

Suggestions and Praise

Suggestions are welcomed as valuable sources of information as to how the Council could improve the service it delivers.

A suggestion is defined as “an idea of how we could improve or change the current service offered.”

It is appreciated when a customer takes the time to thank or praise the Council or staff for the service they have received. Praise provides an opportunity for the Council to learn from feedback and gives insight into the drivers of customer satisfaction.

A compliment is defined as “an indication that we have performed well, provided a good service or gone beyond expectations.”

Make a suggestion or give praise online

Comments

It may not always be possible to implement or make changes as a result of a customer’s comment or suggestion but they are still important as the feedback might influence decisions that the Council makes in the future.

You can make a comment by emailing us. 

Our Reasonable Adjustments Policy

When handling comments we will review them against our 'Reasonable Adjustment Policy' which outlines what a reasonable adjustment is and how the Council will action these requests when received to ensure we are compliant with Equality and Diversity legislation and regulations.

For more information please see our Reasonable Adjustment Policy June 2024 (PDF File, 206kb).

Other ways to have your say