Complaints

Our Customer Feedback Policy sets out our approach to dealing with customer complaints, comments, and compliments, whilst adhering to the principles of both the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman and the Housing Ombudsman Service.

There are two stages to our complaints process, full details of what you can expect when making a complaint can be found in our Customer Feedback Policy

Summary of the stages:

Stage 1

We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days by either email or letter. A Service Manager will investigate your complaint

We will respond to your complaint in full within 10 working days from the date we receive it.

Stage 2

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint you can request a review.

We will acknowledge your request within 5 working days by either email or letter. A Head of Service will conduct the review of your complaint.

We will respond to your request to review your complaint in full within 20 working days from the date we receive it.

Extending response times

On the rare occasions that we need to use our discretion to extend our response times to fully investigate your complaint, we will always tell you why. We will need to have a good reason to extend our response times by up to 10 working days at either stage 1 or stage 2.

Further details on when we may need to extend our response times can be found in the Customer Feedback Policy.

Stage 2 is the final stage of our complaints process.

If you remain dissatisfied after we have reviewed your complaint at stage 2, you can ask the relevant Ombudsman to review how we have handled your complaint.

Note: If your complaint is about our Housing Management Services, you can access the Housing Ombudsman Service throughout your complaint for impartial advice.

How can I make a complaint?

You can submit a complaint through our Customer Feedback form

Before submitting your complaint, please read through the section below which explains what cannot be considered under the feedback policy.

Our Feedback Policy does not cover:

Requests for a service

Common requests for service include, reporting a repair to a Council property, reporting a missed bin, fly tipping removal or litter picking. You can access and request a wide range of services through your Self-Service account.

Appeals

Matters for which there is a right of appeal or a more appropriate or prescribed legal remedy e.g., Licences, Permits, Approvals, Consents, Permissions, Registrations, or any related planning and enforcement action.

When a decision is made and there is a formal right of appeal, you will be informed of the appeals process as part of the decision notice.

Services provided by Lancashire County Council:

Lancashire County Council deliver various services in the Borough and complaints regarding their services must be directed to them. An example of some of the services that they provide include:

• Highway maintenance including potholes, gritting, roadworks, street lighting and temporary traffic lights
• Education
• Adult and Children's Social Care
• Libraries

For more information visit Lancashire County Council

Complaints about Freedom of Information requests (FOI)

For further guidance, refer to Freedom of information

Requests for information or an explanation of Council policy or practice

For example: decisions regarding the assessment of a Housing Application as an appeals process is in place as part of the Housing Allocations Policy.

Petitions

For further guidance, please visit our petitions pages

Complaints regarding issues that occurred over 12 months ago

In line with the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman, we will only consider complaints that are received within 12 months of the issue occurring. After this time, we will not consider your complaint.

Complaints self-assessment

The Housing Ombudsman published a new Complaint Handling Code in July 2020, setting out good practice that will allow landlords to respond to complaints effectively and fairly. All social housing landlords are expected to carry out a yearly self-assessment against the code to ensure our complaint handling is in line with the code. You can see our self-assessment here.