Compliments, Complaints and Suggestions

To make a compliment, complaint or suggestion you can download, print off and complete the tear-off in the |Customer Feedback Leaflet or complete the |contact us enquiry form.

Compliments

We aim at all times to provide efficient, effective and high-quality services. If you would like to praise or send your compliments to an employee or a team of the Council, |you can nominate them for an Elmbridge Hero Award, our employee recognition scheme.

Complaints

We will respond positively and promptly to criticism and to suggestions for improving our services. A positive approach to handling complaints is a central part of our customer care policy - we care about the people of our Borough and want to listen to your views.

The Local Government Ombudsman states that: "A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, by one or more members of the public about the Council's action or lack of action or about the standard of a service, whether the action was taken or the service provided by the council itself or a person or body acting on behalf of the council."

Stage 1
If you are not satisfied with the service you have received, |contact the division responsible using the contact details provided. In this way your complaint can be resolved as simply and quickly as possible.

Your formal complaint will be acknowledged within 3 working days of receipt. A full response will be sent to you within 10 working days. If this is not possible we will write to you to let you know what action is being taken and when you can expect to receive a detailed reply.

Stage 2
If you still feel unhappy with the response you have had from an Officer, please write or email the appropriate |Divisional Head, Elmbridge Borough Council, Civic Centre, High Street, Esher KT10 9SD within 28 days of our first response.

Stage 3
If you are still unhappy you can ask the relevant |Chief Officer to arrange for a separate review of your complaint to be carried out. Please request this within 28 days of our second response.

A review of all complaints takes place periodically with the relevant Chief Officer to ensure that these standards are maintained, and where possible improvements to services can be made through the lessons that have been learnt.

Alternatively, if after all three stages any complaint is still unresolved, you can take up the matter with the |Local Government Ombudsman, Local Government Ombudsman
PO Box 477,Coventry. CV4 0EH

Tel: 0300 061 0614 or 0845 602 1983
Email: advice@lgo.org.uk
Fax: 024 7682 0001
Text 'call back' to 0762 480 4299

The Ombudsman is an independent person appointed by the Government to look at complaints of bad practice in local government. You can complain to the Ombudsman at any time. However, they will not normally begin an investigation until we have had a chance to resolve the complaint. You can get a leaflet explaining what the Ombudsman does from the main reception.

Our complaints system procedure aims to:

• Provide a straightforward way for customers to complain to us
• Make sure we have a procedure in place to investigate complaints effectively
• Keep you informed about the progress of your complaint as well as the eventual outcome
• Put the problem right if we believe your complaint is well founded
• Make sure that we take action to prevent the problem happening again
• Give feedback to the separate divisions, the Management Board and elected members so we can take account of what sorts of complaints we receive and how often we receive them when we need to make decisions on what our resources are best used and spent on.

Our complaints arrangements cover everything except:

• requests for a service (for example, reporting noisy neighbours);
• requests for information or an explanation of council policy or practice;
• matters for which there is a right of appeal (either within the Council or to an independent tribunal) or a right to take legal action; and
• disagreement with legislation rather than concern over possible bad practice.

Our standards when dealing with complaints

• Your name will usually only be given to those people who are dealing with your complaint. We will tell you if we need to give your name to anyone else.
• We will handle all complaints fairly. We will not treat you or your family differently because you have made a complaint.
• Please read our |Customer Care Standards for further information.

Who else can help?
If you would like help at any stage in making your complaint you can contact your |local councillor. If you are not sure who your local councillor is, phone our |main reception. The Citizens' Advice Bureau may also be able to help; contact our main reception for the address and phone number of the one closest to you. (The |Esher CAB has its own website)

How do I contact you?

|Find all our contact details here