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Compliments, Comments and Complaints

Compliments

If you would like to praise the service you have received, you can either contact our Customer Services team or fill in the Talk Back form in the right hand menu.

Customer Service Centre 
Town Hall
Dalton Square
Lancaster
LA1 1PJ		Customer Service Centre 
Town Hall
Marine Road
Morecambe 
LA4 4AF

Telephone: 01524 582000

Comments

We welcome all comments and suggestions on how the services can be improved. Any member of staff will be happy to discuss your comments or suggestions with you. 

Please phone Customer Services on 01524 582000 or email customerservices@lancaster.gov.uk who will direct your feedback to the appropriate member of staff.

Alternatively use the Talk Back form in the right-hand Quick Links menu for comments or suggestions.

Complaints

Although we aim to provide the highest standards of service, we know problems do sometimes occur. Complaints are not looked on as unwanted as they provide us with a chance to see where we can improve our services to you.

In the first instance, please contact our Customer Service Centres either in person or by telephoning 01524 582000. Alternatively you can use the Talk Back form on the right-hand Quick Links menu and print and send to the address on the form, or email complaints@lancaster.gov.uk. Our customer service team will ensure that your complaint is dealt with by the appropriate officer.

Please make your complaint as soon as possible, while all the events are fresh in everyone's mind. This will help us to help you by dealing with the complaint as quickly as possible.

If you feel the issue you have raised has not been dealt with properly, or you prefer to wait until you have had time to consider the situation, you have the right to make a formal complaint.

How To Complain

Full details of how to complain, and how we will deal with your complaint, are given below, and in the booklet available from the right hand Quick Links menu.

What is a complaint?

If the answer to any of the following questions is YES, you probably have a complaint to make against the Council:

  • Have we failed to follow an agreed Council procedure or policy?
  • Have we failed to deliver a service to an agreed standard?
  • Do you think that we didn’t take account of relevant matters in coming to a decision?
  • Do you feel we’ve been neglectful towards you or delayed matters unnecessarily?
  • Has one of our staff dealt with you badly?
  • Do you feel that you’ve been a victim of malice, bias or discrimination in your dealings with us?

What is not a complaint?

  • A criticism of, or disagreement with, Council policies or decisions.
  • Complaints against individual employees which arise from dissatisfaction with a Council policy or decision, and where no other basis for the complaint exists.
  • Planning, Development Control, the awarding of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefits or Homelessness matters where a right of appeal exists, unless the complaint relates specifically to the way the matter has been administered.
  • A matter which is, or could be reasonably be expected to be, the subject of Court or tribunal proceedings, or which is in hands of the Council’s insurers.
  • Complaints which constitute a refusal to accept a rule of law which the Council is applying.

Who else can you go to?

Your Councillor - You may at any time refer the matter to your local Councillor, who will be happy to take up your complaint with the relevant Service.

What if you're not happy with the outcome of a complaint?

When you make a complaint it will be investigated by an officer within the appropriate department. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of their investigation, you have the right to have the complaint investigated by someone outside the immediate department. We call this a stage 2 complaint.

You can make a stage two complaint by contacting Customer Services either in person or by telephoning 01524 582000. Alternatively you can use the Talk Back form on the right-hand Quick Links menu and print and send to the address on the form, or email complaints@lancaster.gov.uk.

Please make us aware that you are making a stage 2 complaint.

Local Government Ombudsman

Finally, if you are still not happy with the answer, you can refer your complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.  You can contact the ombudsman at any stage, but they will want to be sure that you have gone through the system as set out first.

For details of how to complain to the ombudsman about the Council, please see the right hand External Links menu.

The ombudsman for the Lancaster district can be contacted via the Local Government Ombudsman website, or as follows:

Jerry White
Local Government Ombudsman
The Oaks No 2
Westwood Way
Westwood Business Park
Coventry
CV4 8JB

Phone: 024 7682 0000
Fax: 024 7682 0001

The ombudsman publishes annual statistics for all Councils. For those relating to the Lancaster district during the year 2006-07 please see the right hand Quick Links menu.

Complaining about a Councillor - Local Code of Conduct Complaints Process

Changes to the complaints procedure

From the 8th May 2008, considering complaints that a Councillor may have breached the Code of Conduct has become the responsibility of the Standards Committees of local authorities.

What this means to you

If you wish to complain about the conduct of a member of the Lancaster City Council or a member of one of the parish or town councils within the Council’s area, you must submit your complaint to:

The Monitoring Officer
Lancaster City Council,
Town Hall,
LANCASTER
LA1 1PJ

Your complaint will then be considered by the Assessment Sub-Committee of the City Council’s Standards Committee, which will be chaired by a person who is independent of the City Council and the parish councils.

The Assessment Sub-Committee can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a member. It will not deal with complaints about things that are not covered by the members’ Code of Conduct. If you make a complaint to the Assessment Sub-Committee it must be about why you think a member has not followed the Code of Conduct:

The Codes of Conduct of the parish and town councils within the Council's district are also available from the Monitoring Officer or from the clerk to the relevant parish or town council.

If you wish to make a complaint, you should complete the complaints form below. Please read the guidance notes before filling in the form.

Further information and guidance is also available from the Monitoring Officer, Mrs Sarah Taylor, Town Hall, Lancaster LA1 1PJ
Tel: 01524 582025  
Email: STaylor@lancaster.gov.uk

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