Find out about Council compliments, complaints and feedback procedure
A compliment is an expression of satisfaction about the standard of service we provide. We are always glad to hear from people who are satisfied with the services we offer.
All compliments are recorded, and a copy is sent to the relevant service manager to provide feedback to the member of staff or service.
We deal with complaints in line with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s complaint code.
When you complain to us, we should put right what has gone wrong and learn from it.
If you have submitted a request for a service, your form will be passed to the service area for action. If necessary, they will contact you directly with any updates.
If your complaint relates to Children or Adult Social Care Services, you can also telephone 0151 443 3231.
Further information can be found below.
The most common ‘report it’ issues are:
If you have not already reported your issue to the service, we may treat it as a first-time service request, such as a missed bin collection.
The complaint procedure does not include issues where there is a right of appeal, such as refusal of planning permission, a damage or injury claim, issue of a penalty charge or fixed penalty notice and blue badge, housing benefit or council tax reduction appeals. However, the complaint may be considered if it relates to the way the matter has been administered.
There are certain matters the Council do not deal with through the complaint process and stages in this procedure. The council offers a variety of services, and there may be more suitable methods for addressing certain issues.
Initial service requests are not part of the complaints process. Service requests are defined as "a request that the organisation provides or improves a service, fixes a problem or reconsiders a decision". This could be you alerting us for the first time that action is required i.e. reporting a missed bin or a broken streetlight.
These requests may however become a complaint if we do not deal with them appropriately, as referenced in the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman's complaint handling code:
If the Council receives a request for a service via the Have Your Say process, the service request will be sent to the relevant Team for the request to be responded to.
Any complaint that has been fully responded to previously.
We would not normally investigate complaints about something that happened more than a year ago, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
If you believe an councillor has breached the Council’s code of conduct, you should email details of your complaint to codeofconduct@knowsley.gov.uk or complete the complaints form and send it via email or post to;
Monitoring Officer
Huyton Municipal Buildings
Archway Road
Huyton
L36 9YU
For MPs contact:
Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Email: standardscommissioner@parliament.uk
Phone: 020 7219 1883
Insurance claims are not covered under this policy. If you wish to make a claim, please write to;
Insurance Claims
Westmorland Road
2nd Floor Nutgrove Villa
Huyton
L36 6GA
Email: insurance@knowsley.gov.uk
If there is a more appropriate individual or organisation to deal with your complaint such as a tribunal, ombudsman or court it will be used to handle your concerns.
Appeals processes are in place for various areas, such as school admissions, benefit claims, and planning applications. To make sure you are following the appropriate path for your concerns, please refer to the guidance below regarding matters we cannot address.
If an appeals procedure applies to your complaint, we will refer you to this and notify you of our actions at the start.
Appeals procedures must be completed before we can investigate any other issues you raise with us.
The following are examples of complaints where there is an appeals process and so we will not deal with them under this policy.
This list is not exhaustive:
There are legal procedures that must be followed when challenging a fixed penalty or parking charge notice. An appeal must be made using the contact details on the notice.
Further information can be found on the website using the below links.
Fixed penalties for environmental crimes
Complaints relating to a planning application decision or an enforcement notice must follow a separate procedure. If you suspect a planning violation you must submit a written complaint to the service. Further information can be found on the website using the links below.
How to appeal a planning decision
If your complaint is about a school, you must make it directly to the school. Further information can be found on the Knowsley website here.
Following the outcome of a school admissions appeal by an admissions appeals panel, complaints about the process should be sent directly to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. The ombudsman is independent of Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council and has the authority to investigate these types of complaints on your behalf.
They can be contacted as follows:
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH
Website: www.lgo.org.uk
Phone: 0300 061 0614
If your complaint is regarding a decision about your entitlement to housing benefit you should contact the service. In certain circumstances you can appeal to an independent tribunal. Further information can be found on the Knowsley housing benefit claim web page.
If you disagree with the decision about your Universal Credit you would need to contact the Department for Work and pensions.
If your complaint is relating to a decision to refuse a Blue Badge following an assessment, you have the right to appeal. Appeals can be made in writing to;
The Blue Badge Team
Centre for Independent Living
Unit 11, Brickfields
Huyton
L36 6HY
If you are unhappy due to having a blue badge confiscated, you should contact 0151 489 6000.
If your complaint is regarding a decision about your entitlement to council tax reduction or other council tax support, you should contact the service to request explain and request a reconsideration. Following this, you can appeal if you disagree with the decision.
Further information can be found on the Appealing Council tax reduction decisions page on the Knowsley Council Appealing Council Tax reductions web page.
Knowsley Councils Environmental Health team investigate noise nuisance issues. Further information about how to report a noise nuisance can be found on the Knowsley website here.
To report instances of antisocial behaviour, please find information and who to contact on the Knowsley website Anti-social behaviour page.
If you would like to report fly tipping to Knowsley Council, please visit the fly tipping page on the Knowsley website.
Sometimes it is unclear which Council or Local Authority is responsible for the service or issue. If Knowsley Council receive a complaint relating to another Council, we will send the complaint to the relevant Council or organisation and advise you accordingly.
If you want to make a complaint about a private landlord or housing association, please contact them directly.
If your comment or complaint relates to LIVV Knowsley (formerly known as Knowsley Housing Trust), you must contact them directly.
Further information can be found on the Comments and complaints about a landlord page on the Knowsley website.
Email address for making a complaint is: contactcentre@livvhousinggroup.com
Telephone number 0151 290 7000
Freephone number: 0800 561 0007
If a complaint includes a legal challenge questioning the legality of a decision, action or inaction, it will follow a separate process from the Ombudsman and will not be addressed under the complaint policy.
We are committed to being open and accountable for our staff. If you have serious concerns about our staff, please come forward and let us know. All concerns will be treated in the strictest of confidence. Whilst these will not be dealt with as a complaint, they were be forwarded to the relevant service who will respond to you directly.
If you disagree with restrictions we will review if the restrictions have been applied appropriately. Following the review, if you remain unhappy, you will need to ask the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to consider whether or not our decision has been reasonable.
You can write to the Ombudsman at;
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH
Website: www.lgo.org.uk
Phone: 0300 061 0614
Complaints made by employees concerning their employment will be referred to Human Resources to be considered in line with internal HR procedures.
Complaints made by job applicants who wish to complain about the recruitment and selection process will be dealt with by the relevant recruitment manager.
There are two acts of parliament that require local authority social care services to have a procedure for considering representations (including complaints) by an individual or anyone acting on their behalf in relation to the discharge of, or any failure to discharge, any of their social services functions.
The two acts are:
Complaints about either adult or children’s social care issues are dealt with under separate statutory timescales and are outside of this policy.
If you are not satisfied with the response to your freedom of information request or environmental information regulation request the matter can be escalated with a request for an internal review.
Internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Knowsley Council are not obliged to provide a review if it is requested after more than 40 working days. We will acknowledge an internal review request and provide a target date for response, which should usually be within 20 working days.
There may be circumstances where we may require more time to complete an internal review, for example if we need to address complex issues, consult with third parties, or consider substantial amounts of information.
In these circumstances we will inform the requestor that we will need more time and provide a reasonable target date. This should be no more than an additional 20 working days unless there are legitimate reasons why a longer extension is necessary.
As with requests for information, if we require clarification for your internal review request then the timescale to respond does not start until the clarification is provided by you.
Providing an internal review within a maximum of 40 working days matches the timescales for internal reviews in the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) - in which internal reviews are a statutory requirement.
The Freedom of Information code of practice can be viewed here.
This is the first stage, and we will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 3 working days. Our acknowledgement can be made verbally or in writing and will include confirmation that your complaint has been received and the date or timeframe by which you can expect to receive a response.
The complaint will be passed to the service area, who will arrange for the investigation and a response within 15 working days from the date of the complaint. If the complaint is going to take longer than 15 working days, you will be notified by the Customer Liaison Team and provided with the new expected response time
A response will be provided to you by email or letter depending on your preference. On some occasions a complaint may be resolved by telephone however, you will receive a follow up email or letter confirming the details of the conversation.
Every effort will be made to resolve your complaint at stage one.
If you remain dissatisfied following our initial investigation, you can ask for your complaint to be looked at again by a senior officer. There may be instances when the council will advise you to refer your concerns directly to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) following the Stage One response. This will be clearly explained to you and will only occur when the council is satisfied that you have had an opportunity to have your queries considered and all issues raised by you have been addressed.
There is no further right of appeal to the council following completion of a review at stage two of this policy. Within our final response, we will inform you of your right to take your complaint further if you remain dissatisfied.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman look at individual complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing public services. They are the final stage for complaints about councils and they are a free service. The LGO will not usually investigate a complaint until the council has had an opportunity to investigate and answer it first.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH
Phone: 0300 061 0614
Some customers act in ways we consider unreasonable when trying to resolve their complaints.
We take all complaints seriously and aim to resolve them fairly. Usually, we can work with complainants to reach a solution that works for both sides. However, if communication becomes difficult, we may need to take appropriate steps.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman defines unreasonable actions as:
Unreasonable actions are those which, because of the nature or frequency of contact with an organisation, hinder the organisation’s delivery of services or consideration of complaints.
We have a specific policy to address these situations and outline our approach, which can be found here.
Submit your compliment, complaint or provide feedback online via the link below. If you have supporting documents, you can upload them at the bottom of the form.
Alternatively, you can write to;
Customer Liaison Team
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Archway Road
Huyton
L36 9UX
Email: haveyoursay@knowsley.gov.uk