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Comments and Complaints
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Click here to send us your comments, complaints and compliments
We care about what you think
Somerset County Council delivers a wide range of services, from many outlets, to a large number of people throughout the County. With this in mind there may be people who are not satisfied or happy with Council services.
Tell us about it
There may be times when you feel unhappy with the service you receive or you may want to suggest how we can improve it. We take expressions of dissatisfaction by members of the public seriously whether they take the form of a comment or a complaint - and are committed to dealing with them fairly and efficiently.
Your comments, either positive or negative, are helpful for our future planning. If you are dissatisfied about the standard of a service or the actions or lack of action taken by the county council, please tell us.
We would also like to know of the times when you are happy with the service provided by us and wish to say thank you, or you have a suggestion to help improve our services, we would be happy to pass these comments on.
What we will do for you
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We will try to put matters right for you and improve things in the future
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We hope that most complaints can be settled quickly and informally either by putting matters right or by giving you an explanation.
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There may be times, however, when we may ask you to put your complaint in writing to help us
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We will let you know once you have made contact with us
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Your complaint will be investigated and then answered by a member of staff in the relevant department you are complaining about
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You will receive a reply within ten working days
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If it is not possible to provide you with a full response in that time, we will contact you again letting you know what the delay is and when you can expect a response in full from us.
If you are making a comment, compliment or complaint against Adult Social Care, Children’s Social Care or Education please note that these complaints are subject to different procedures as set out in legislation set by Government, than others made against the Council.
If you wish to make a comment, compliment or complaint, please follow the links to find out more:
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Complaints about Bullying, Harassment and/or Discrimination
Please see the above link for details of Somerset County Councils Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination Policy. This guidance is for managers, all staff, Council Members, service users and members of the public and sets out the County Councils responsibilities and timeframes for dealing with incidents of this nature made known to the Authority.
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The Local Government Ombudsman – an independent service that can investigate a complaint on your behalf whether or not you have gone through all of the stages set out in the Council’s complaints’ procedures, or if you still remain dissatisfied with the Council’s response.
Our promise to you
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We will write back to you within 10 working days.
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Your complaint will be looked into thoroughly and fairly.
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Your complaint will be dealt with honestly, politely and in confidence.
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You will get an apology if we made a mistake.
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You will be told what we are doing to put things right.
Freedom of Information Complaints
Requests made under the Freedom of Information Act are responded to within 20 days. This complaints procedure relates to situations where we have withheld information or where you do not feel we have responded appropriately or within the time limit.
How to make a complaint
The council has a three-stage process to deal with complaints, which are:
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Your complaint will be forwarded to the person who can best deal directly with any problems and is responsible for providing the service.
We will reply to your complaint with a full response within 10 working days. If, for any reason it may take longer we will let you know.
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If you are unhappy with the outcome at stage one, you can contact us again if you wish to take the matter further and we will forward your letter to a senior manager.
It is advisable to put the matter in writing explaining why you are still unhappy with the outcome.
Your complaint will be reviewed and we aim to send a full response within 10 working days. If, for any reason it may take longer we will let you know.
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If you still remain unhappy with the outcome our Chief Executive, who has overall responsibility for dealing with complaints, will investigate on your behalf.
It is advisable to put the matter in writing explaining why you are still unhappy with the outcome.
Your complaint will be fully reviewed and we aim to send a full response within 10 working days. If, for any reason it may take longer we will let you know.
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If you remain unhappy with the outcome of the various stages after the above processes have been exhausted you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman
However, this should not be seen as an ‘appeal’ process from the third stage.
What we will do
We will make every effort to give you a full reply within the time limits shown.
If this is not possible, you will be told of the reasons why and be given a date by which you can expect to receive a full reply.
Some response times may vary due to statutory regulations, for example, specific cases in Social Services.
Other action that the County Council might take
We may request to have a meeting with you if we think that this may help resolve your complaint.
It is possible that an appropriate senior Councillor and your local County Councillor will be advised of your complaint and the action being taken to resolve it.
This is particularly likely if the Director or Chief Executive become involved.
Other actions open to you
Rather than write to the Director concerned, you can ask your local County Councillor to pursue your complaint on your behalf. However, this should not be seen as an 'appeal' process from the third stage.
If the various stages set out above fail to satisfy you, it is unlikely that this procedure can resolve your problem. In these circumstances, the Chief Executive will inform you of the procedures for submitting a complaint on the grounds of maladministration to the Local Government Ombudsman (who is independent of the County Council). Generally speaking, the Ombudsman deals with the processes, rather than the merits of decisions made by local authorities.
The Ombudsman can be contacted at:-
The Oaks
2 Westwood Way
Westwood Business Park
COVENTRY
CV4 8JB
Telephone: 0845 602 1983
Fax: 020 7682 0001
Web-site: http://www.lgo.org.uk
Remedies which may be put forward by the Council, which will vary depending on the nature of the complaint.
If your complaint is upheld, you will receive a written apology and a promise that the problem will not re-occur.
In appropriate cases an award of compensation may be offered.
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