Corporate Complaints Procedure

As your Council, we want to make sure that the services we provide are of the highest quality. However, we appreciate that things can sometimes go wrong which make the service you receive from us, unsatisfactory.

If this happens to you, we would like to hear about it, through our corporate complaints procedure. We welcome your complaints as they not only help us identify when a service has not been provided satisfactorily, complaints provide a reality check as to whether we provide the same, high level service to everyone in Barnsley.

In other words, your complaints can help us continually improve the services we provide to all the people of the Borough. 

What Is A Complaint ?

A member of the public will usually make a complaint if he or she is unhappy at the standard of service they have received from the Council. For example :

·        The refuse in your bins may not have been collected

·        Your street may not have been gritted

·        The faulty street light you reported, a while ago, has still not been replaced

When these things happen, you can complain to your Council and get them to try and put things right.

How To Make A Complaint

There are several ways of getting your complaint heard by the Council. If you are complaining about an issue which is affecting both you and other people, in your neighbourhood, you can:

• Tell your local Councillor
• Go to a meeting of your local Area Forum and raise the issue there

If the complaint is about a service failure affecting you, your family, friends or neighbours, you can make a complaint by:

·        Telephone (The Barnsley MBC telephone number is 01226 770770)

·        In writing, to Barnsley MBC (Complaints) PO Box 529, Town Hall, Barnsley, S70 9BB

·        On line using your computer; interactive digital TV or mobile phone , to complaints@barnsley.gov.uk

If your complaint relates to schools or either children or adults social services please follow the specific links at the bottom of the page

Complaints Form

You can also make your complaint by filling in this online complaints form

The Corporate Complaints Procedure

What Happens After You Make A Complaint ?

Stage 1

When your complaint reaches us, you will receive a letter or e-mail from the Council, within 5 working days, telling you that we have received your complaint and will now be looking into it. All complaints are treated confidentially.

Within 28 days of receiving your complaint, you will receive another letter from the head of the service about which you have complained. This will, either:

·        Agree with your complaint, apologise for the inconvenience caused and make sure the same failure does not happen again

·        Agree with your complaint and, only in exceptional cases, offer compensation or a payment, if approval is given by the head of service and Executive Director (Financial Resources)

·        In cases of serious complaints concerning fraud, for example, refer your complaint to the Police for investigation.

·        Disagree with your complaint and give reasons for doing so 

If the service cannot reply to your complaint within 28 days, it will contact you to explain the reason for the delay and let you know when it will give you a response. The service will also give you the name and telephone number of the officer dealing with your complaint

Stage 2

If you are not satisfied with the response to your complaint, you can forward your complaint to a senior officer of the Council who will look into the complaint again and make sure nothing was missed out, during the first investigation.

Your complaint will be acknowledged by the senior manager within 5 working days and, after a second look at the complaint, you will receive a full response within 28 days. Once again, if the senior manager cannot reply within 28 days, he or she will contact you to explain the reason for the delay and let you know when a response will be sent.

Local Government Ombudsman

If you are not satisfied with the response to your complaint, at Stage 2 of the Councils procedure, you can take your complaint further to the Local Government Ombudsman who may arrange to look into your complaint.

The contact details for the Local Government Ombudsman are:

The Local Government Ombudsman

Beverley House

17 Shipton Road

York
YO30 5FZ

Tel: 01904 663200

Fax: 01904 663269 

• Local Government Ombudsmans Website