The Council's complaints procedure

This page summaries our Complaint Handling policy and procedure for responding to complaints.

Complaints can be submitted on our Make a comment, complaint or compliment about Bradford Council page, which also contains information on complaints and the code of conduct for our Members (Councillors).

If you have a problem with a Council Service, contact the department or local office first so that the problem can be dealt with quickly by the department concerned.

Informal Resolution

If you have a problem with a council service, contact the department or local office first so that the problem can be dealt with quickly by the department concerned.

Formal Resolution - Stage 1

If you are not happy with the answer you receive, or if the problem reoccurs, then you can make a complaint which will be dealt with by a more senior member of staff within the service. You should receive a response within 20 working days.

Formal Resolution - Stage 2

If you are not happy with the stage 1 response you can ask for the matter to be investigated independently by the Complaints Unit. The Complaints Unit will assess if there are enough grounds for a formal investigation. Formal investigations should be responded within 65 working days.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

If you are still dissatisfied with the service provided by the Council, then you can take up your complaint with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Please note that the Ombudsman will expect you to have tried to resolve the issue with the Council first.

The contact details for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman are:

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH

Telephone: 0300 061 0614
Website: www.lgo.org.uk

Please note

• We won’t normally accept complaints after 12 months of the original problem occurring.
• If the original concern is over 12 months old, we will consider your complaint and let you know if we decide to accept it.
• Reports about missing bin collections, dog fouling, etc should be dealt with as service requests in the first instance.
• A complaint will not be launched where there is a recognised process for dealing with the customer contact, such as a formal appeal route or a claim for damages.
• Certain outcomes cannot be achieved through the complaints procedure and therefore there may be more appropriate ways to deal with these kind of matters (for instance overturn decisions made in Court, information under Data Protection etc)
• A complaint does not automatically put the actual case on hold, and therefore, any actions needed (payments, summons etc) will run parallel to the complaints investigation.