Compliments, Comment and Complaints

Making a Comment, Compliment or Complaint.

Cheshire West and Chester Council is committed to providing high quality and accessible services, and operates a "Comments, Compliments and Complaints" scheme which sets out our policy and procedures for dealing with all sorts of customer feedback.

What is a Service Request

Single service failures, such as:

  • missed refuse collection;
  • reporting a pothole;
  • reporting broken paving slabs;
  • none gritting of roads/pavements;
  • litter and graffiti problems;
  • making a comment on a planning application; and
  • reporting dangerous trees, hedges or other structures

should not be logged as complaints as these are service requests.

If you wish to contact the Council regarding any of the above issues the Solutions Team recommend that you contact each specific service area direct.

What is a complaint

An expression of dissatisfaction about a council service (whether that service is provided by the council or by a contractor or partner) that requires a response. There is no difference between a "formal" and an "informal" complaint. Both are expressions of dissatisfaction that require a response.

Sometimes members of the public may complain without describing their communications as a complaint. It is important that these are not overlooked.

Complaints about social care provided by either the Children and Young People or Adult Social Care and Health Directorates will be dealt with under a separate, statutory procedure.

Schools have a separate complaint procedure and complaints should be sent to the Head Teacher or schools governing body.

Our commitment to you

We aim to improve continuously the quality of our services for our residents and are committed to giving an equal service to all members of the public regardless of their age, colour, culture, disability, economic status, ethnic origin, gender, race, marital status, religious or sexual orientation.
We have arrangements in place to help people who may have difficulty accessing our services. We can help with translation, interpretation and provide information in a variety of formats such as large print, Braille, audio cassette and computer disk.
For more information about access or equality contact our Access Officer.

Putting things right

When we get things wrong, we will handle your complaints quickly and efficiently. We will not only try to put things right - we will also learn from the experience. We will use this feedback to make continual improvements to our services.

If you think we have:

  • Not done something we should have done
  • Done something badly or in the wrong way
  • Treated you unfairly or discourteously

Tell us:

  • What has gone wrong giving us as much detail as possible because it helps us to understand the situation better
  • What you would like us to do to put things right

Formal Complaints Procedure

Your complaint will be dealt with as follows:

  • Your complaint will be thoroughly investigated by the Customer Services Solutions Team.
  • We will send you a letter within five working days of receiving your complaint. This letter will either respond in full to your complaint or acknowledge that we have received it.
  • The acknowledgement letter will tell you the name and telephone number of the Solutions Team Officer investigating your complaint and how long the investigation is likely to take.
  • In normal circumstances, we will aim to deal with your complaint within 20 working days of receipt. Sometimes, more complex issues may take longer but we will keep you informed of our progress and will inform you, in writing, of any delays in our response.

If you are not satisfied with our response and any decision on your complaint, and you inform the Solutions Team of your dissatisfaction, in writing, within 21 days of the date of the response letter, the complaint will be referred to a Senior Manager who will review the matter and give the Council’s final response within the standard complaints process.

What If I Am Still Not Satisfied?

If you remain dissatisfied after your complaint has been dealt with you may wish to contact the Local Government Ombudsman. You can complain at any time to the Local Government Ombudsman, who is independent of the Council and can investigate on your behalf. You can contact the Local Government Ombudsman Advice Team on 0300 061 0614.

Contact Us

If you think we have done something well ... please tell us.
If you think we could do something in a different way or better ... please tell us.

  • Compliments - if you think we did something well
  • Comments - if you want to share about any aspect of our services
  • Complaints - if something has gone wrong

To make a comment, compliment or complaint using our online form select one of the following options.

I would like to...
 


To contact us by letter or telephone:

Cheshire West and Chester Council
Solutions Team
HQ
58 Nicholas Street
Chester
CH1 2NP
Telephone 0300 123 8 123