Compliments, feedback and complaints

Who can complain?

You can make a formal complaint to us if you:

• Receive or have received services provided or commissioned by Peterborough City Council.
• Are affected, or likely to be affected, by an action or decision of Peterborough City Council.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

You can complain on behalf of someone else if they have grounds to complain and they:

• Have died, or
• Can’t make the complaint themselves because they aren’t physically or mentally capable, or
• Have asked you to act on their behalf. In this case, we would only share information if we receive consent from the individual concerned

What to do

You should start by talking to the member of staff with who you are in direct contact. If that is not possible, or if you are still not happy, you should ask to speak to that person’s manager or the customer service team. Most problems can be sorted out quickly through discussion.

If you are still not satisfied, you can contact the council's Complaints Team. You can write to them, email them, or contact them by telephone. Their contact details are shown below.

The Central Complaints Office

• Sand Martin House
  Bittern Way
  Fletton Quays
  Peterborough
  PE2 8TY

• Telephone: 01733 296331
• Email: ASCcomplaints@peterborough.gov.uk

You can also complete the council's online complaints form.

You should normally make a complaint within 12 months of the date of the event that you are complaining about, or as soon as you first knew about the problem.

You can’t use the complaints procedure if:

• You made a complaint orally and it was sorted out by the end of the next working day
• You’re employed by the organisation and you want to complain about an employment issue
• Your complaint has already been considered under the complaints procedure
• Your complaint has been, or is being, investigated by the Local Government Ombudsman
• Legal action is underway

Complaints procedures

In the first instance you need to complain to the organisation providing your care. All care providers are required to have a complaints procedure.

If you are dissatisfied with their response you can contact the Local Government and Social Care (LGSCO) Ombudsman.

They will consider all complaints regardless of how the care has been funded. Their job is to investigate complaints in a fair and independent way.

In most cases they will only consider a complaint once the care provider has been given a reasonable opportunity to deal with the situation. It is a free service.

Providing advocacy

If you need independent support with the complaints process you can contact POhWER

POhWER provides advocacy services in Peterborough.

If you are deaf and would like Advocacy Support in BSL please visit Cambridgeshire Deaf Association

Find out more on our Advocacy webpage.

The next steps

Once your complaint has been received, we will inform you within three working days. This letter will state when we hope to be able to respond to your complaint.

We will contact you to set a new timeline if the investigation will likely take longer than planned.

If you are complaining on someone else's behalf, we may need to get their permission before we can move forward.

We will discuss with you if we need to share your information with other organisations who might need to engage in your complaint.

If you are not happy with the response letter, Service Director for Adult Social Care (Operational Services) and/or Service Director for Commissioning can review your complaint.

Ombudsman

You have the right to speak with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) if you are not happy with our response to your complaint.

Adult Social Care keep, use, and safeguard information about you and your social care,  This includes who else may have access to your information and how you can request to see it. The Information Sheet below details how we protect your information and how you can request to see the information we hold about you.