Complaints and Compliments
Contents
Customer Feedback
Everyone likes to be told they are doing a good job. Staff at the Council are no exception. Customer feedback can be negative, focusing on mistakes that have been made or things our customers would like us to do better. However, we get far more compliments than we do complaints or negative feedback. This feedback is important – to reassure us that we doing a good job, and to praise staff, and also as a benchmark to help us improve and learn from our mistakes.
Send us your compliments
Tell us where you have received particularly good service from our staff so that we can celebrate their achievements. Email customerfeedback@rushcliffe.gov.uk.
Send us your comments
If you have suggestions for how we could improve, please let us know by making a comment or suggestion. Email customerfeedback@rushcliffe.gov.uk.
Send us your complaints
And if we have failed to fulfil your expectations in any way, we will investigate your complaint thoroughly and inform you of the outcome. We define a complaint as dissatisfaction about the Council’s actions or lack of actions, the standard of service provided by the Council or its contractors, or a member of staff. Complaints can be about many things including:
- dissatisfaction with the way our policies are carried out
- our failure to carry out a decision
- our failure to come to a decision or not take into account relevant factors when making a decision
- poor or inappropriate behaviour of our staff
- discrimination or bias you have experienced
- failure to fulfil our statutory duties.
Complaints can easily be confused with requests for service and general enquiries. Customer Services can deal with most requests for services and information and should be your first contact. Alternatively you may wish to report a problem rather than make a complaint.
How to send us your feedback:
- by using the online Official Complaints Form
- by email to customerfeedback@rushcliffe.gov.uk
- by letter addressed to the Corporate Complaints Officer, Rushcliffe Borough Council, Rushcliffe Arena, Rugby Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 7YG.
- by telephone on 0115 981 9911
- or in person at the Rushcliffe Customer Service Centre, Gordon Road, West Bridgford NG2 5LN.
You can also ask someone else (for example, your local councillor or Member of Parliament) to send us feedback on your behalf.
What happens next?
If you have complimented a member of staff, that officer will be praised by their manager.
If you have made a comment, then your ideas will be forwarded to the most appropriate person who will decide whether your suggested changes will improve our services.
If you make a complaint, we follow a two stage process internally:
Stage 1 - Your complaint will be sent to the most appropriate manager. It will be investigated and you will be informed about the outcome within 10 working days. Most problems are resolved at this stage.
Stage 2 - If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the initial investigation you can submit a further complaint which will be dealt with by the Corporate Complaints Officer and a Director. These are classified as Official Complaints and, although we hope to deal with these within 10 working days, the response time may be longer than this, depending upon the complexities of the case. We will inform you of this when we acknowledge your complaint.
If you are still dissatisfied, then you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman, who will investigate the complaint on your behalf. You can contact the Local Government Ombudsman at:
- PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH - Telephone: 0300 061 0614
- Local Government Ombudsman
The Local Government Ombudsman has a leaflet called "Complaint about the Council? How to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman." You can get a copy by telephoning or writing to the address above, or you can download it from the Ombudsman's website.
If you contact the Local Government Ombudsman without giving the Council the opportunity to resolve the issue first, then your complaint will be judged as premature and passed to the Council to resolve.
How to make a complaint about the behaviour of a Local Councillor
All complaints about the behaviour of local Councillors (including a member of one of our parish or town councils) should be made directly to the Borough Council.
You must make your complaint in writing and say who the complaint is about and why you think that the Councillor has not followed the Code of Conduct for the Council in question.
Your complaint should be addressed to the Council’s Monitoring Officer who will acknowledge receipt and advise you what will happen next. A complaint may be made by writing to the Monitoring Officer at the address shown below. Alternatively, you can complete an complete an online form.
The Monitoring Officer
Rushcliffe Borough Council,
Rushcliffe Arena,
Rugby Road,
West Bridgford,
Nottingham,
NG2 7YG.