Comments, Compliments and Complaints Procedure
How do I make a comment or a compliment?
- by completing the Comments, Compliment, Complaints Form
available at any of our offices
- telephone the Customer Contact Centre on 01653 600666 and they
will connect you with the relevant Service Unit or Complaints
Officer
- email us at info@ryedale.gov.uk
- by letter to the Service Unit concerned
- by fax on 01653 699889
- via your Local Councillor, all contact details are
on our Find
your Councillor Webpage.
- by completing the online Corporate Comments, Compliments and
Complaints Form (see Form Links to the right).
How do I make a complaint?
There are two procedures to use depending on the nature of the
complaint.
1. Complaint against a Councillor in
relation to the Code of Conduct for Members of the Council
If you have a complaint or concern about the conduct of a Member
of the Council in relation to the Code of
Conduct, you can submit a complaint using our complaint form
Complaint Form: Code of Conduct
for Members. Before completing the complaint form you are
advised to read the notes Code of Conduct for Members:
Information for Potential Complainants.
2. A complaint or an expression of
dissatisfaction, however made, about standards of service, actions,
or lack of action by the Council or its employees
Stage 1: Initial Assessment and Prompt
Resolution
All complaints should be made in the
first instance to the individual Service Unit concerned in one
of the following ways:
- by completing the Comments, Compliments, Complaints Form
available at any of our offices
- telephone our Customer Contact Centre on 01653 600666 and
they will connect you with the relevant Service Unit or
Complaints Officer
- email us at complaints@ryedale.gov.uk
- by letter to the Service Unit concerned
- by fax on 01653 699889
- via your Local Councillor, all contact details are
on our Find
your Councillor Webpage
- via a relative, friend or organisation with your written
permission
- by completing the online Corporate Comments, Compliments and
Complaints Form (see Form Links to the right).
If you don't want to contact the Service Unit involved direct
them pIease address the complaint to the Council’s designated
Complaints Officer: Angela Jones, Customer Services and Benefits
Manager. Ryedale District Council addresses, telephone numbers and
directions to the Council's offices are available on the Contact Us
page.
To make sure your complaint is made to the correct service
unit and dealt with promptly, please try to include as many details
as possible including dates, times, the nature of the complaint,
any officers involved and whether you feel the complaint is as a
result of direct discrimination. A friend or relative can act
on your behalf if you wish. When making the complaint, please
ensure you keep details of who you made the complaint to, again
including dates and times if possible.
Most complaints are of a simple nature requiring remedial
action either immediately or within five working days.
We will inform you when you make your complaint of what action we
will take and when. If it's not possible to resolve it
within five working days you will be kept informed of progress
until remdial action is complete.
What do I do if I am not happy with the
outcome of my complaint?
Stage 2: Formal complaint
If you are not happy with the outcome then your next step is a
Formal Complaint. At this stage the complaint needs to be in
writing and it will be passed to a Head of Service from our Senior
Management Team. Please include all the information from your
original complaint including any reference numbers, dates and
names, describe outstanding issues and the action you have
requested to resolve your complaint. The Head of
Service will carry out a further investigation and will give a
written reply within five working days or will inform you when
and how your complaint will be dealt with if resolution is going to
take longer.
Stage 3: The Local Government Ombudsman
If you are still dissatisfied with the outcome you may contact
the Local Government Ombudsman and ask for an independent
investigation to be carried out. The Ombudsman is not part of the
Council and the service is free of charge. Please bear in mind that
the Ombudsman will normally only consider your case after it has
been through the Council’s own Complaints Procedure. The address
for the Ombudsman is:
Local Government Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0HE
Telephone: 0300 061 0614 OR 0845 602 1983
Fax: 024 7682 0001
Text: 'call back' to 0762 480 4299
Copies of the leaflet can be obtained from Ryedale House,
Malton and our Area Offices in Pickering, Helmsley and
Kirkbymoorside.