A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, made either verbally or in writing, about the standard of
service, actions or lack of action by the Council or its staff, affecting an individual customer or group of
customers. The following will not be registered as complaints:

1. A request for service
2. A request for information
3. The lodgment of an appeal in accordance with legislation.

Procedure Responsibilities: The Director of Corporate Services is responsible for the coordination of the
complaints policy and procedure, including the analysis of data. The Customer Service Centre is
responsible for overseeing the process of monitoring and reporting the progress of the complaint and
any responses made. Managers and Directors are responsible for the investigation of complaints directly
related to their areas of operation.

Process for complaint handling: Complaints should preferably be in writing, addressed to the
chairman/managing director and signed by the complainant, complete with the address. Telephone and
verbal complaints will be entered into the complaints system, but wherever possible, should be
confirmed in writing. Anonymous complaints should also be recorded and assessed and action is taken
where necessary. In order to deal with complaints effectively and efficiently in order to resolve the
problem, they will be dealt with in the following manner:

1. Front line staff will handle straightforward, minor complaints. Where these minor complaints
cannot be dealt with immediately, they will be acknowledged in writing within 5 working days.
The letter will detail what action will be taken, who the responsible officer will be and a contact
number, and the anticipated time for a response where this is known.

2. Complaints which cannot be handled by front line staff should be referred to the officer
responsible for resolution I.e. the Action Officer, in conjunction with other supervisory staff in
that work area if required. It is expected that the Action Officer will acknowledge the complaint
and will liaise with the complainant, in order to keep him/her informed of the progress of the
action being taken.

3. Any follow up complaint to an original request/complaint will progress immediately to the 2nd
Tier and be handled by the Responsible Officer

4. Where a complaint involves a number of different issues which require action by different
members of staff, officers in the Customer Service Centre will send a letter of acknowledgement
and then enter each complaint as a separate CARS (Customer Action Request System) entry to
be forwarded to each relevant officer who will follow up on each complaint until its completion.

5. All written complaints will first be registered by Records, which will then refer the complaints to
the Customer Service Centre for acknowledgement and entry into CARS.

6. Serious complaints involving inappropriate behaviour staff (e.g. rudeness, discrimination or
harassment) will be directed to the relevant Divisional Director, and if appropriate, the Human
Resource Manager. As in (1), the initial acknowledgement by the responsible officer, detailing
the likely action to be taken, will occur within 5 working days.

7. Serious complaints involving personal injury, a breach of the law or financial implications, a
Council decision, and complaints which involve the need for detailed knowledge of the Council's
operations and procedures will be directed to the responsible Officer/Manager in the first
instance where necessary. Once again, the initial acknowledgement should be made within 5
working days by the responsible officer. The Procedure for the internal review of Council
decisions should be followed.

8. Any appeal against a response from 1st Tier staff can be referred to a 2nd Tier Manager,
Director or the CEO / SMT for resolution. Any appeal against a response from 2nd Tier staff
should be referred to CEO / SMT for resolution and the Procedure for the internal review of
Council decisions should be followed.

9. Should the CEO / SMT consider that a complaint is of a nature that requires the involvement of
an independent mediator/facilitator, this process could be employed to assist in a 3rd Tier
review.

10. In cases where the customer does not accept the outcome achieved by the Council
as a result of following its complaints procedure, the complainant should be advised of
alternative options open to them. These include approaching the Ombudsman, Office of Local
Government etc. as per the Procedure for the internal review of Council decisions.