We are committed to providing excellent customer service first time, every time and we welcome feedback, positive or negative. Details can be found in our Customer Feedback Policy.

Where things have gone wrong, we want to put them right for you as quickly and simply as possible. In the first instance, please contact our Customer Services Team to see if we can do this.  If you wish to register a compliment, comment or complaint please read below.

Compliments and comments

We log compliments and comments (or suggestions) and send them to the relevant manager. Compliments and comments help us learn what we are doing well and where we can make improvements.  

Complaints

We have a 2 stage complaints process, as outlined in our Customer Feedback Policy.  

We follow the Complaint Handling Code of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and Housing Ombudsman Service.  They define a complaint as: An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of actions by the organisation, its own staff or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents.

The two stages of the process are outlined below.

Stage 1 - Investigation

If we cannot put things right quickly and simply, we will log your complaint. A team leader or manager of the relevant service will investigate and reply to you, usually within 10 working days. If we need to put things right or make improvements, we will let you know how and when we will do this.

Stage 2 - Internal re-investigation

If you are not satisfied with our reply to your stage 1 complaint, you will normally be given 3 months from the date of the reply to request a re-investigation.

The Head of Service or a senior team member not connected with the associated stage 1 complaint(s) will re-investigate the matter. We will usually reply within 20 working days. If we need to put things right or make improvements we will let you know how and when we will do this.  

How we respond to your feedback  

We will use your feedback to:

• keep doing what we do well
• learn where we can make improvements to make services better and easier to access for all our customers
• make positive changes

How to submit your feedback

By using your My East Suffolk account we will be able to easily keep in touch with you about your feedback.

If you have been through all stages of the council’s complaints process, you can ask the relevant Ombudsman to consider your complaint. The Ombudsman investigates complaints in a fair and independent way - it does not take sides. It is a free service.  The Ombudsman expects you to have given us a chance to deal with your complaint, before you contact them.

For complaints about the council as a landlord (e.g. housing rent, repairs, maintenance) contact the Housing Ombudsman Service.
The Housing Ombudsman Service looks at complaints about social housing providers and housing organisations and considers complaints about the actions or omissions of a landlord that affect you living in or applying for a home.  You may use the online form anytime or telephone 0300 111 3000 during opening hours (9am to 5pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday or 9am to 3.30pm Thursday).

For all other complaints about the council please contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman looks at individual complaints about councils and some other organisations providing local public services. There are some limits on what the Ombudsman can look at. For example, the Ombudsman may not consider your complaint if you have not been significantly personally affected by the issue you are raising, or if you have a right of appeal to a court or tribunal. You may use the online form anytime or telephone 0300 061 0614 during opening hours (10am to 1pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or 1pm to 4pm Wednesday).

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) - Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report

Housing Ombudsman Service - Annual self-assessment and governing body report

East Suffolk Council must comply with the Housing Ombudsman's Statutory Complaint Handling Code. It must self assess against the code and ensure policies and practices comply with the code, at least annually.

By assessing ourselves against each provision of the code, we can identify areas of operation or policy where changes are required.

The self-assessment also requires us to evidence how we comply with the code.

Where we are not able to comply with the code, we must confirm this in the self-assessment and set out the actions and timescales for achieving compliance or demonstrate how we have made all reasonable endeavours to meet the intentions in an alternative way. The Ombudsman will assess all reports of non-compliance and may take action to intervene to ensure landlords meet the requirements of the code, even where they have provided reason(s) for non-compliance.

The report and self-assessment provide landlords with an opportunity to be open and transparent with residents on their complaint handling performance. Landlords are expected to provide accurate and complete information about complaint handling and share how they have learned from complaints received.

We are committed to providing a high quality service and handling all complaints fairly and impartially. There are, however, a small number of people who are unreasonably persistent or who are abusive or threatening in their contact with the council.

We will not tolerate racist, sexist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, harassment or other threatening, aggressive or violent behaviour, or other unreasonable behaviours intended to cause disproportionate or unjustifiable levels of distress, disruption or irritation.  

Our Unreasonable Behaviour Policy defines unreasonable behaviour and unreasonably persistent contact, and the actions that the council will take.