Complaints policy

What you cannot complain about

There may be instances where we can’t respond to your complaint under this policy.

If we decide not to investigate your complaint, we will tell you why and how you can take that decision to the Ombudsman should you disagree.

These are examples of issues that we can’t investigate under this complaints policy.

Service requests

A service request is a request for action to be taken to put something right, such as a missed bin collection or a repair being required. Service requests are not treated as complaints, unless there is dissatisfaction with the response. Service requests can be requested online. If you express dissatisfaction with how your service request has been or is being handled, we will raise a complaint for you. We will continue to address the service request even if you make a complaint.

Claims for damages and compensation

If your property or any personal items have been damaged, this should be dealt with a s an insurance claim through your own home contents insurance. If you do not have a contents insurance policy and are a council tenant, please contact Housing Tenant Services. You can still complain about the cause of the damage through this complaints process. If your claim relates to an accident on a public highway please report it online.

Complaints that are more than 12 months old

We will normally only accept a complaint that is about an issue that occurred in the last 12 months, or that you were made aware of in the last 12 months. This is to ensure we can complete a full and fair investigation. We will apply discretion to accept complaints that are older than 12 months in exceptional circumstances.

Appeals to tribunals

Any issue that is has or had the right to appeal, reference or review through the tribunal, minister of the crown or a court of law can’t be investigated through this complaints process and must go through the relevant appeals process. This includes parking fines, any benefits assessments, decisions about an Education, Health and Care Plan, and service charges.

Previous appeals

We can’t accept complaints about matters that have already been the subject of an appeal to a tribunal or to a government minister or are part of previous court action against the council.

Complaints that have already been investigated

We can’t investigate any complaints that we have already responded to, have been through any other complaints process or have been investigated by an Ombudsman. We will not reject a complaint if it is about promises made to resolve an earlier complaint, however, we are likely to escalate that to stage 2 of the complaints process, bypassing stage 1 completely.

Disciplinary action against our staff

Complaints about the actions of council staff or staff working on our behalf can be investigated under the complaints policy, but any disciplinary measures will be managed through the relevant Human Resources (HR) policy. The line manager will be made aware of the complaint against the staff member, and it will be the line manager’s responsibility to take forward any disciplinary process with HR. We will not share any information about disciplinary action taken.

Personnel matters

New and existing staff of the council or organisations who deliver services on behalf of the council, cannot use the complaints process to address any employment-related issues. These complaints are governed by the relevant HR policies.

Housing Association (HA) or Social Landlord (RSL) complaints

Complaints about matters relating to services provided by a Housing Association should be made directly to the relevant HA or RSL. 

Complaints by contractors or partners

Any organisation we partner with, or are contracted to complete functions on our behalf, can’t complain to us about that agreement. Any disputes should instead be managed through the terms of that agreement.

Penalty Charge Notices (PCN)

There are legally defined procedures for challenging a PCN. For further information see parking. 

Initial reports of noise and neighbourhood nuisance

There is a separate procedure to for dealing with reports about noise nuisance. If you wish to submit a report, please visit antisocial behaviour reporting. We will consider any complaints about how your reports are handled.

Commenced legal action about the matter

We will not usually consider a complaint if it is about something that is already going through the courts. Court action only starts when a Claim Form has been sent to the court. This usually also includes the Particulars of Claim.

Sending a pre‑action letter or letter of claim does not mean court action has started. At this stage, we will still look at and investigate complaints through our complaints process.

If court action has started, we may still look at your complaint if it is about how we handled your complaint, or issues that the court is not looking at.

If court action has started, we will explain clearly which parts of your complaint we can look at, which parts we cannot, and why.

Any letters about court action should be sent in writing to:

Legal Services
222 Upper Street
London
N1 1XR

Educational establishments

Schools, Colleges, Universities and Commissioned Children Centres operate their own complaints procedures.