Complaints and Compliments

Complaints

North Norfolk District Council aims to avoid complaints by providing a good quality of service. But if you do make a complaint, we have a clear system that will deal with it effectively and speedily at a sufficient senior level. This system is based on guidance issued by the Local Government Ombudsman and has been approved by the Council. It is regularly monitored by the Scrutiny Committee.

Three Steps to Putting Things Right

Step One: Contact the Department
If you have a complaint about a North Norfolk District Council service, contact the Department concerned or an Area Office by calling in, telephoning or writing. You do not need a form to do this. A Complaint Officer is responsible for dealing with complaints in each service. Accordingly correspondence should be addressed to the Service Head concerned. You will receive an acknowledgement within 3 days and a full response within 28 days.

Step Two: Send in the Complaints Form
If you feel your complaint has not been dealt with adequately, you can make your complaint formal by completing a Complaints Form. Please use the either the online Complaints and Compliments Form or download a form below:

• Complaints Form (Word, 22kb)
• Complaints Form (PDF, 11kb)

Please complete the form and return to:

The Chief Executive
North Norfolk District Council
PO Box 1
Council Offices
Holt Road
Cromer
Norfolk
NR27 9EN

The Council will acknowledge receipt of the completed form within 3 days and give a full response within 28 days.

Step Three: Your Complaints Co-ordinator

If you are still unsatisfied, write in again and a further investigation will be carried out by someone from outside the Department concerned. If you think you have been unfairly treated by the Council you can ask the Local Government Ombudsman (see below) to investigate whether you have suffered injustice caused by maladministration. The Complaints Procedure covers all the services provided by the District Council. Complaints about other services should be referred to the appropriate authority. This system cannot be used to complain about formal decisions taken by Committees of the Council.

What complaints does the system cover?

Complaints about how any of the services are provided.

What complaints doesn't the system cover?

• Complaints about formal decisions taken by Committees or those delegated to Directors.
• Complaints about the level or standard of service approved by the Council.
• Requests for service eg reports of an abandoned car, etc.
• Requests for information or explanations of Council policy or practice.
• Matters for which there is a right of appeal or legal remedy.
• The conduct of a councillor in course of carrying out their official duties (see below)

Local Government Ombudsman

If you are unhappy with the way the Council has dealt with your complaint you should contact the Local Government Ombudsman http://www.lgo.org.uk/

The Local Government Ombudsman is an independent person who investigates allegations of maladministration causing injustice to the person who has complained. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about most council matters including housing, planning, education, social services, and council tax. The Ombudsman who deals with this Council is at:

Local Government Ombudsman, PO Box 4771, Coventry CV4 8EH
Telephone: LGO Advice Team 024 7682 1960 or 0845 602 1983
Fax: 024 7682 0001
Text "call back" on 0762 480 4323
Email: advice@lgo.org.uk

The Local Government Ombudsman has a leaflet called Complained to the Council? Still not satisfied? You can get a copy by telephoning or writing to the address above, or you can download it from the Ombudsman's website.

Complaints about County, District, Town and Parish Councillors

From the 8 May 2008, North Norfolk District Council will be handling complaints from members of the public about misconduct by district and parish councillors, under changes to the framework for assessing councillors' conduct being introduced by the Government.

The Standards Board for England, which has dealt with these complaints until now, will monitor councils in their new role. It will step in if a complaint is so serious that a council would not be able to impose a suitable punishment, or if it feels a council's standards committee is failing in its duties.

After 8 May 2008 if you want to complain about the conduct of a member of North Norfolk District Council or a member of one of our parish or town councils, you must submit your complaint to:

The Monitoring Officer
North Norfolk District Council
Council Offices
Holt Road
Cromer
NR27 9EN

Compliments

We are equally keen to hear from you if you have any comments on good service or good work carried out by our staff. Please use the online Complaints and Compliments Form to send us your comments.

Suggestions

If you have any comments or suggestions relating to this website, please use our online contact form.