- Make a Comment / Complaint
Make a Comment / Complaint
Request for Service
If your issue relates to a request for service, such as reporting a missed bin or reporting Anti-Social Behaviour, the department in which the service request relates to should be contacted in the first instance.
Reporting requests for service (Opens in a New window)
Compliments
It is appreciated when a customer takes the time to thank or praise the Council or staff for the service they have received. Compliments provide an opportunity for the Council to learn from feedback and gives insight into the drivers of customer satisfaction.
A compliment is defined as “an indication that we have performed well, provided a good service or gone beyond expectations.”
Make a compliment online (Opens in a New Window).
Comments and suggestions
Comments and suggestions are welcomed as valuable sources of information as to how the Council could improve the service it delivers. It may not always be possible to implement or make changes as a result of a customer’s comment or suggestion but they are still important as the feedback might influence decisions that the Council makes in the future.
A suggestion is defined as “an idea of how we could improve or change the current service offered.”
Make a comment or suggestion online (Opens in a New Window).
Complaints
Complaints provide an opportunity for the Council to learn from feedback and gives insight into the drivers of customer satisfaction. The Council uses complaints to review the services it delivers.
A complaint is defined as “an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents.”
Make a complaint online (Opens in a New Window)
Complaints process
We are committed to providing an efficient and effective service for the benefit of all. As part of this aim we are constantly looking for ways to improve our service to the community. If you feel that we have in some way let you down, please tell us so that we can investigate and, if necessary, put things right.
There are two stages within Broxtowe Borough Council to the handling of a complaint:
Stage 1
- The Council will send an acknowledgement of receipt of your complaint within 5 working days.
- A senior officer will conduct a thorough investigation of your complaint and provide a response directly to you within 10 working days of the acknowledgement being issued.
- Where it is not possible to respond within these times, we will contact you and advise you of an estimated date of response, which will not exceed a further 10 working days without good reason.
Stage 2
- If you are not happy with your Stage 1 response, you can request it progresses to Stage 2.
- Your complaint will be referred to the Complaints Teams, who are not involved in the investigation of your Stage 1 complaint.
- They will be given all the complaint information and will conduct a thorough review of the investigation and the response provided to you at Stage 1.
- They will write to you with the outcome of their investigation within 20 working days.
- Where it is not possible to respond within this time, we will contact you and advise you of an estimated date of response, which will not exceed a further 10 working days without good reason.
If after receiving the Stage 2 response, the complainant is still unhappy with the outcome, they can refer it to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or Housing Ombudsman.
Exclusions
The Council will not be able to investigate your complaint if one or all of the following criteria are met:
- The issue giving rise to the complaint occurred over 12 months ago. However, this will be review on a case by case basis to determine if the complaint should be investigated.
- Legal proceedings have started. This is defined as details of the claim, such as the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim, having been filed at court.
- The Complaint has previously been considered under the complaints policy. (This will not exclude persistent issues, i.e. repeated missed bins and specific housing repairs issues that have returned from being investigated.)
Complaint Handling Code
The Housing Ombudsman requires that the Council adopt its Complaint Handling Code to ensure a consistent approach to dealing with complaints and learning from the outcome of complaints. This Complaint Handling Code has been adopted and comes into practice on 1 April 2024.
The Complaint Handling Code provides an effective complaints process that enables the Council to learn from the issues that arise for residents and to take steps to improve the services it provides. Complaint handling performs an important strategic role for an organisation, providing vital intelligence on its performance, culture and reputation.
The Housing Ombudsman require the Council to complete a self-assessment toward the Complaint Handling Code to ensure that the best practice is being followed. Further information regarding this self assessment can be found here.
The Council's new Complaint Policy can be found under the Supporting Documents part of this page.
Referral to Ombudsman
In most circumstances the Ombudsman will expect the complainant to have followed the Council’s complaint process. However it is acknowledged that in some very rare cases, there is nothing to be gained from progressing with both stages. In these situations the Ombudsman may be prepared to consider complaints without both stages being completed.
You can contact the Ombudsman directly or you can ask your local councillor to do this for you.
Local Government Ombudsman
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (Opens in a New Window) is an independent person who investigates allegations of maladministration causing injustice to the person who has complained.
More information on how to make a complaint (Opens in a New Window) or how to contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is available on its website.
Housing Ombudsman
The Housing Ombudsman (Opens in a New Window) service is set up by law to look at complaints about housing organisations.
The Housing Ombudsman resolves disputes involving the tenants and leaseholders of social landlords (housing associations and local authorities) and its voluntary members (private landlords and letting agents who are committed to good service for their tenants).
More information on how to contact the Housing Ombudsman (Opens in a New Window) is available on its website.
In July 2020 the Housing Ombudsman Service published a Complaint Handling Code and as part of this the Council was required to undertake a self-assessment by 31 December 2020.
The Complaint Handling Code provides a framework to promote high quality complaint management.
Councillor Complaints
If you believe a Councillor has breached their Code of Conduct (.pdf) (959KBKB) (Opens in a New Window), please let us know by filling out the Member Code of Conduct Complaint Form (.docx) (59.3KB) Opens in a New Window).
Please send completed complaints forms to membercomplaints@broxtowe.gov.uk.
You can also read our Arrangements for dealing with Councillor Complaints(pdf.)(206KB)(Opens in a New Window)
Feedback for Nottinghamshire County Council
Nottinghamshire County Council deals with complaints, comments or compliments about roads, potholes, pathways, gritting, street lighting and any other County Council service including libraries, social care and school admissions.