Complain about council services

You can submit a complaint about a council service to a dedicated complaints officer in the Customer First Office.

To do this you can:

• complain via an online form
• telephone the Customer First team on (0191) 643 2280
• email customerfirstoffice@northtyneside.gov.uk

There are 3 different complaint procedures:

• Corporate – for all council services that don’t fall under the following statutory procedures
• Adult social care – this is a statutory procedure for complaints about adult social care
• Children’s social care – this is a statutory procedure for complaints about children and learning  

When your complaint is received:

• A Customer First Officer will work with you to make sure your complaint is managed in the right way and via the correct procedure,
• they will agree a ‘statement of complaint’ with you and confirm your desired outcome,
• provide you with a complaint acknowledgement and reference number,
• explain likely timescales,
• allocate your complaint to the right council officer / team for investigation, and
• make sure you receive a response in time.
• Finally, the Customer First Officer will work with you if you are not satisfied with the complaint response and explain escalation options.

If your complaint is about a councillor, contact the standards committee.

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your complaint you have the right to refer the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The contact details for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman are as follows:

https://www.lgo.org.uk/

Telephone: 0300 061 0614 Opening hours: Monday to Friday - 10am to 4pm (except public holidays) 

The Ombudsman looks at individual complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing local public services. It investigates matters fairly and impartially and is free to use. There are some matters the Ombudsman cannot or will not investigate. In these cases, it will clearly explain the reason for its decision

The Housing Ombudsman has jurisdiction of all complaints about Social Housing, this includes Tenants of local housing authorities, the Council.

 The Housing Ombudsman can be contacted by:

• Telephone 0300 111 3000 or
• Email info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk 

or

• by post Housing Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower. Harbour Exchange Square, London, E14 9GE