Council Complaints

We hope people are happy with the services they receive from South Beds District Council. However, if you are unhappy with any aspect of our services we would like the opportunity to sort it out. If you have a complaint about South Bedfordshire District Council here's what to do.

Please click here, if your complaint is about the behaviour of a councillor

Get in touch with the relevant service either by telephone or a personal visit. Try to get the problem settled there and then.

If you telephone or call in, make a note of the name of the person dealing with your complaint. This will help you to get the right person if you need to raise the problem again.

Alternatively, you can complete an on-line complaints form.

If your complaint is not straight forward, it is a good idea to put it in writing setting out all the facts clearly. You may find it helpful to discuss your complaint with a senior officer of the service concerned.

You should receive a reply within ten working days.

If you are not satisfied with their reply you can ask for our complaints pack which includes a complaints form. To obtain a copy of our complaints pack, please send an e-mail to amerjit.kang@southbeds.gov.uk or ring 0845 849 6125 to request one. Fill in and return the complaint form. You may also want to contact one of your ward councillors for advice. Tell your councillor the name of the officer dealing with your complaint. Your Councillor will raise the complaint with the service concerned and then contact you again.

Once you have sent in your complaint form it will be dealt with by a senior officer.

Receipt of your complaint form will be acknowledged within three working days and you should receive a reply within ten working days. This may be an interim letter while we get more information.

If you wish to take the matter further write to Amerjit Kang the Corporate Service Manager (Legal and Democratic) with copies of any earlier letters about the complaint. This time a fresh, independent investigation will be carried out by a senior officer not previously involved. Your letter will be acknowledged within three working days and you should receive a reply giving the findings of the investigation within fifteen working days. Again this may be an interim letter.

The sort of things which may lead to a complaint include:

  • Failure to provide a service at the level or standard expected by the Council.
  • Unhelpful attitude of a Council employee.
  • Neglect or unjustified delay.
  • Failure to follow agreed Council procedure, policy or rules.
  • Failure to tell people of their rights.
  • Malice, bias or discrimination

The procedure does not cover complaints about Council decisions, other than the way they were reached.

If we are unable to meet the timetable we will write to tell you why and let you have a revised timetable.

Local Government Ombudsman
Unhappy with the way the Council has dealt with your complaint?

Complaints about Councillors
 
Members of South Beds District Council are required to comply with the Code of Conduct - Members Code of Conduct (PDF 149 KB)

If you want to complain about the conduct of a member of South Bedfordshire District Council, or a member of any town or parish council within its administrative area, you must submit your complaint to the Council's Monitoring Officer by completing the following forms:

Complaint Form (68.5 KB)

Ethnicity and Diversity Monitoring Form (12.0 KB)

Useful guidance can be found in the Information for Potential Complainants (62.1 KB) guidance document and we suggest that you read this before completing the complaint and monitoring forms.

Reviewed 19 November 2008