Article: Comments, Complaints and Compliments Article Body The Council is committed to providing services of the highest quality to our customers. Your comments, complaints and compliments are very important in helping us to understand how well we are doing and they form a basis for us to improve services. You have a right to express your views about the Council and the services that you receive and for those views to be taken into account on improving services. Your compliments If you want to inform us when the Council, or an individual officer has done well this will be recorded as a compliment. We monitor compliments so that we can provide feedback to Council staff and for planning service improvements. Your comments We want to hear your views about how we can improve services and we will look into your suggestions. Please tell us if you want us to respond to your comments. Your complaints We know that sometimes things can go wrong. If you are unhappy about the quality of a Council service or about the actions of an officer of the Council you have the right to complain and for your complaint to be dealt with. How to make a comment, complaint or compliment to the Council There are a number of ways for you to make a comment about how to improve Council services, to make a complaint or to pay the Council a compliment. You can either: Complete the online form Ask for a complaints, compliments and comments form from any Council public buidling and either hand it into any of our Barnsley Connects Offices or post it to the address on the form. Send a letter to the address on the form (without the need to complete the form). Telephone (01226) 787898 - Opening hours are 8.00am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday. Fax (01226) 773002. Send a text to 0786525880 (adults and children's social care only). Typetalk users can contact 800201226 Tell your local Councillor. You can download our leaflet that tells you how to make a comment, compliment or complaint by clicking on this link Tell us What you Think about Services. The services listed below have specific procedures about how to handle and respond to your views and you can find out more by clicking on the links in the text. For Adult Social Services follow the link to Adult Social Services - Compliments, Comments and Complaints procedure. For Schools follow the link to the Schools - Complaints procedure. For Children's Services follow the link to the Complaints about Services for Children procedure. For Berneslai Homes follow the link to their procedure: compliment or complaint about Berneslai Homes If you need some assistance to make a comment, compliment or complaint one of the Council's advisors will be happy to help. Resolving Complaints As a first step, the Council would always encourage people to talk about thier issues with someone in the service concerned, for example a supervisor or a manager. They may be able to sort out any problems without you having to take any further action and this can often be the quickest way of getting things resolved. The Council would normally refer to these as 'informal' complaints. Dealing with more 'formal' complaints If your comment or complaint has not been resolved by talking to the service, or if your concerns require a more detailed assessment and response, this will be dealt with as a 'formal' complaint and will always be recorded. Comments and complaints of this nature will usually be dealt with by a senior manager. The Council has recently reviewed it's policy for Complaints, Comments and Compliments. You can download the policy by clicking on the link below: Complaints, Comments and Compliments Policy Local Government Ombudsman If you have been through the Council's procedure for handling complaints and remain dissatisfied it is your right to take your complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman who may arrange to look into your complaint. The contact details for the Local Government Ombudsman are: PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 OEH Telephone advice team: 0845 6021983 Email: advice@lgo.org.uk Text 'call back' to 0762 480 4323 Local Government Ombudsman Website