If complaints cannot be resolved to mutual satisfaction the Local Government Ombudsman can investigate.

The Local Government Ombudsmen investigate complaints of injustice arising from maladministration by local authorities and certain other bodies. There are three Local Government Ombudsmen in England and they each deal with complaints from different parts of the country. They investigate complaints about most council matters including housing, planning, education, social services, consumer protection, drainage and council tax. The Ombudsmen can investigate complaints about how the council has done something. But they cannot question what a council has done simply because someone does not agree with it.

A complainant must give the council concerned an opportunity to deal with a complaint against it first. It is best to use the council's own complaints procedure, if it has one. If the complainant is not satisfied with the action the council takes, he or she can send a written complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman, or ask a councillor to do so on their behalf.

The Ombudsmen are:

Tony Redmond - who deals with complaints from north London, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Suffolk, and Sussex;

Patricia Thomas - who deals with complaints from Birmingham City, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and the north of England;

Dr Jane Martin - who deals with complaints from the rest of England.

For more details please visit the Ombudsman's Website

Complaints relating to a District, Parish or Town Councillor- these are dealt with by the:

Standards for England
4th Floor, Griffin House,
40 Lever Street,
Manchester
M1 1BB

With references to Breaches of their Code of Conduct