Make a complaint about Bradford Council
How to make a complaint about Bradford Council
Many issues can be resolved quickly by contacting the service responsible. If you need to:
- Report missed bin collections
- Report fly-tipping
- Report a faulty street light
- Report a highway or road issue, such as potholes
- Request information
- Apply for a service
- Make a payment
Please Report It or contact the relevant service directly through our Contact Us Now pages.
For environmental issues such as:
- Noise nuisance
- Food safety concerns
- Pollution or air quality issues
- Nuisance bonfires
- Littering or dog fouling
- Pest control
Please visit Environmental Health and Pollution Services for more information.
If you wish to:
- Object to a planning application, please use the planning consultation process.
- Appeal a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) or bus lane penalty, please follow the appeals process detailed on the penalty notice.
If your complaint relates to a property you rent from the Council, please visit Service Requests and Complaints about Your Social Housing.
For complaints relating to Adult Social Care, please visit the make a compliment and complaint about adult social care page.
For complaints relating to Children's Social Care please contact Bradford Children and Families Trust directly.
We welcome feedback on the services we deliver to you.
There are certain issues that we cannot investigate through the complaints procedure. For full details please see the Complaint Handling policy and procedure.
If you want to report an issue such as bins not being emptied, fly tipping, street light not working, highway issues or need information from us or want to apply or pay for a service please visit our contact us now page.
If you want to make a complaint about a noise nuisance or find out about food safety, pollution and air quality, nuisance bonfires, littering and dog fouling fixed penalties, pest control please visit our environmental health and pollution page.
If you want to object to a planning application please visit our comment on or object to a planning application page.
If you want to appeal against a PCN please visit our pay your parking penalty or bus lane penalty page.
For complaints relating to Adults Services please see visit our make a compliment and complaint about adult social care page.
For complaints relating to Children's Social Care please contact Bradford Children and Families Trust.
What Is a complaint?
A complaint is when you are dissatisfied with:
- The standard of service you have received
- The actions or decisions of the Council
- Delays in providing a service
- How you have been treated by Council staff in the course of their duties
- A failure to provide a service that should have been delivered
A complaint is not the same as reporting a service issue, requesting a service, making an appeal, or objecting to a decision where a separate statutory or legal process exists.
For further information please see How we handle service requests and complaints - Frequently asked questions and the Council’s Complaints policy and procedure.
Raising a concern with the service
Before submitting a formal complaint, we encourage you to contact the service involved directly. In many cases, concerns can be resolved quickly without the need for a formal complaint.
You can contact the relevant service by telephone using the contact details provided on our website and explain:
- What has happened
- Why you are unhappy
- What outcome you would like
If you do not wish to speak to the staff member involved, you can ask to speak with their manager.
How to make a formal complaint
If you have already raised the issue with the service and remain dissatisfied, or the matter could not be resolved, you can make a formal complaint by completing our online complaint form:
Make a complaint about Bradford Council now
Alternative ways to make a complaint:
By email: complaints.officer@bradford.gov.uk
By Post: Write to Corporate Complaints Team, FREEPOST BRADFORD COUNCIL
(Please write Corporate Complaints Team on the back of the envelope.)
In Person or by Telephone:
You can get help making a complaint at one of our Customer Service Centres in Bradford or Keighley or using the Contact us details.
Additional support
If you are blind, visually impaired, deaf or have hearing loss and require assistance to make a complaint, please contact the Sensory Needs Service:
Telephone: 01274 435001
Address: Sensory Needs Service, Morley Street Resource Centre, 124 Morley Street, Bradford, BD7 1BB
If you need us to communicate with you in a different format, or require any reasonable adjustments, please let us know once we have acknowledged your complaint and we will do our best to support you.
We recognise that you may wish to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to help write your complaint. For advice using AI for complaints please see Guidance on using AI to write your complaint.
My complaint is about an Elected Member
There is a separate complaints procedure for the conduct of elected Members (also known as Councillors).
All members are subject to the Members’ Code of Conduct.
To make a complaint about an Elected member please click the following link and complete and return the form:
Make a complaint about an elected member (Word document)
What happens once you’ve made a complaint
We will assess your complaint and inform you how it will be dealt with. Some issues or concerns may be handled as service requests and will be passed to the relevant service to take action to fix the problem.
How we handle service requests and complaints - Frequently asked questions
There are certain things that we cannot consider through the Council’s complaints procedure. For full details please see the Complaints Policy Scope and Limitations
Acknowledgement
We will provide a written acknowledgement of a complaint within 5 working days. This will provide further information regarding the complaint’s procedure and contact details.
Stage One
Stage 1 focuses on resolving concerns at service level. A manager within the service responsible will be asked to investigate and respond to you.
We will aim to provide a response within 10 working days of acknowledgement, however where this is not possible you will be provided an update.
Stage Two
If you remain dissatisfied with the response you receive at Stage 1, you may request a Stage 2 review, where your complaint will be independently assessed by the Corporate Complaints Team.
Information on how to escalate your complaint will be included in stage 1 response letter.
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
You have the right to approach the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman at any stage. However, the Ombudsman may refer the complaint back to the Council if the Complaints Procedure has not been exhausted. 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: https://www.lgo.org.uk/how-to-complain
For full or further details of the Council’s Complaints process please see: