Helping us to improve our services
We are committed to delivering high quality services to our customers. By complaining you give us the opportunity to put things right and review the way we do things in the future. All comments and complaints are taken very seriously and dealt with according to our policy. This page explains how you can make a comment or complaint against any Council service.
How do I make a comment?
Please email us at customer.services@southhams.gov.uk
| How do I make a complaint? |
| Alternatively you can also contact us by: | |
Telephone | 01803 861234 |
Email | complaints@southhams.gov.uk |
Visiting or
writing to | South Hams District Council
Follaton House
Plymouth Road
TOTNES
Devon
TQ9 5NE |
Unless you advise us otherwise, we will respond to your complaint in writing.
What can I complain about?
A complaint to the Council could be about:
- The failure to provide a service
- The quality of a service
- The lack of communication about a particular issue
- A delay in providing a service
- A member of Council Staff
- Unlawful or unfair discrimination
Is there anything I am unable to complain about?
If you want to appeal about a decision made by the Council, these are dealt with in a different way. These include decisions about planning applications, benefits applications, and parking tickets. In these instances we will give you details on how to make your appeal.
For complaints about District, Parish, or Town Councillors please see our Local Code of Conduct for Councillors: Complaints process.
Our promise to you
We will:
- Acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days
- In most cases give you a full written response from the Head of Service within a further 10 working-days. If we need more time to investigate the complaint, we will contact you to let you know
- Investigate your complaint thoroughly and fairly
- Apologise if we have done something wrong
- Put things right and make improvements for the future
- Provide an explanation if we believe your complaint is not justified
- Carefully consider your comments and suggestions
- Centrally monitor the complaints we receive across the Council
What if I am still unhappy?
- If you are not happy with the response to your complaint, you can ask for your complaint to be escalated to the next stage. This will mean that your complaint is reviewed by a Corporate Director. Once again we will acknowledge your complaint in 3 working days and in most cases we will give you a full written response within a further 10 working days. If we need more time to investigate the complaint we will contact you to let you know.
- If you are not happy with your escalated response, you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman. The Ombudsman prefers to take up complaints that have been through the council’s own complaints procedure. At South Hams District Council this means a complaint has been through the two stages of the complaints process.
The Ombudsman’s Office has an Advice Team which accepts complaints by telephone, email, text, and in writing.
Telephone | 0300 061 0614 or 0845 602 1983 |
Email | advice@lgo.org.uk |
Text | 0762 480 3014 |
Website | www.lgo.org.uk |
Address | The Local Government Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH |
Complaints Policy
Copies of the [pdf icon] Complaints Policy are also available free of charge from the the Council’s offices and Council-led outreach events.
This form is available on request in other languages and formats.
Unacceptable complaints
There may be occasions when we deem complainants' actions or behaviour to be unacceptable, and in some cases this may alter the way we decide to deal with the complaint. These situations are covered under our [pdf icon] Unacceptable Actions Policy.
