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Civic Centre
Burdon Road
Sunderland
SR2 7DN
Tel. (0191) 520 5555
Frequently Asked Questions |
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What does the complaint procedure cover? The complaints procedure covers all Council services with just a few exceptions. For full details check out our Customer Services Procedure. If you are unhappy with the standard of a service, our actions or lack of actions, let us know. Should we be unable to deal with your complaint then we’ll explain why and signpost you to the right place. So how do I make a complaint? We are happy to receive complaints in any format, via email to customer.services@sunderland.gov.uk, online, on our “contact us” form, over the telephone, and in person. Whatever method suits you best. Each service area has its own complaints co-ordinator who will ensure your concerns are fully investigated. See the list below. |
|
Service Area |
Telephone |
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Adult Services |
566 1631 |
|
566 1629 |
|
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Children’s Services |
561 1276 |
| 561 1296 | |
|
Community & Cultural Services |
561 7566 |
|
561 7560 |
|
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Corporate Services |
561 1326 |
|
561 1026 |
|
|
Development & Regeneration |
561 7809 |
|
561 7806 |
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Alternatively, or if you aren’t quite sure who to contact, please give customer services staff a call on 0191 5617993 or 0191 5611065 There are two formal stages to the procedure. The directorate you are complaining about have 15 working days to investigate and respond in writing to your concerns. Should you remain dissatisfied after that, they will explain how you can have your complaint reviewed on behalf of the Chief Executive. This review should also take no longer than 15 working days. Sometimes more complex complaints take longer to investigate and review. Should this be the case we will let you know. In our final letter, we’ll explain how you can ask the Ombudsman to investigate if you are still unhappy. The
Local Government Ombudsman investigates complaints of maladministration
about councils. They are independent of the Council and operate a free
service. The Ombudsman for this area is based in York Can’t I just go straight to the Ombudsman? The Ombudsman generally requires you to have given us the opportunity to try and resolve your complaint before they get involved. Should you complain to them first they will usually forward your complaint to us and ask us to investigate. How do I know you will deal with this fairly? Each service area has its own complaints co-ordinator who will make sure that all of the issues you tell us about are fully looked into. The Council is committed to rigorous and unbiased investigations and complaints are dealt with by senior officers who weren’t involved in the original issue. Who deals with complaints about Councillors? All Councillors have to keep to a Code of Conduct to ensure high standards are maintained. If a complaint reveals that a potential breach of this code has taken place, it may now be referred by the Council's Standards Committee for investigation and result in a hearing. Where can I get more details on the Council’s complaint procedure? Details are on the Internet at www.sunderland.gov.uk/complaints. Also there is a leaflet and complaint form available at reception desks or on request. Please contact the Customer Services Officer on 0191 5617993 for a copy. How many complaints do you receive each year? Last year 2007-2008 we carried out 129 formal investigations at stage two of our procedure and 26 of these went to the third stage review. The Ombudsman made decisions on 49 complaints against the council. It decided in 11 of these cases that the council had not had an opportunity to try and resolve the complaint. The Ombudsman sent them back to us to put through our own procedure. Of the 38 remaining complaints, in only five did the Ombudsman think there were issues which the council should have dealt with differently. The Ombudsman accepted the council's suggestions for resolving these complaints and importantly we have learned from each of them. Again there were no findings of maladministration against Sunderland Council. To learn more about the Ombudsman complaints to the council read the
Ombudsman's annual letter to us at Below is a breakdown of complaints by service area. |
|
Complaint Statistics |
|
Stage 2 |
Stage 3 |
Ombudsman |
Totals |
|||||
| 06-07 | 07-08 | 06-07 | 07-08 | 06-07 | 07-08 | 06-07 | 07-08 | |
|
Chief Executive |
0 | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 | 0 | 2 |
|
Community & Cultural Services |
25 | 34 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 33 | 45 |
|
Corporate Services |
24 | 36 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 41 |
|
Development & Regeneration |
62 | 35 | 24 | 13 | 14 | 19 | 100 | 67 |
| Children's Services * | 13 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 24 | 16 |
|
Health, Housing & Adult Services * |
12 | 14 |
1 |
1 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 18 |
|
Multi-Directorate |
10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 4 |
|
Totals |
146 | 129 | 42 | 26 | 22 | 38 | 210 | 193 |
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* Does not include statutory complaints What if I want to make a suggestion, a comment or give a compliment? We welcome all feedback! Please contact us via email to customer.services@sunderland.gov.uk, online, on our “contact us” form, over the telephone, or in person. Whatever method suits you best. We’ll make sure it reaches the right person. last updated 30/10/08 |
