Comments, Compliments and Complaints
At Dover District Council we are very conscious of our responsibility to provide the highest possible standard of service to our residents and visitors. We are proud of the standards that we achieve but realise that things do occasionally go wrong. If you wish to make a general enquiry please use our Contact Us form.
Report a problem
Challenge a decision about your benefits, Council Tax or business rates
Making comments or compliments or complaints
If your comment or complaint is in relation to a specific service and you have not reported the issue to the Council before please use the links under the "Report a problem" section above. As a reminder, if you wish to report a missed bin, this should be done via the Missed Bin Collections page, provided it has been missed within 24 hours of your scheduled collection date.
In order to sort out the mistakes that do happen, and to make sure that they are not repeated, we have put in place a complaints procedure. We are also keen to hear if we have done things well.
A complainant does not have to use the word ‘complaint’ for it to be treated as such. A complaint that is submitted via a third party or representative will still be handled in line with the Council's Complaints Policy.
Complaints Policy »
Make a formal complaint about a council service »
Make a comment or compliment about a Council service »
Complaints Process
The Council operates a two-stage complaint procedure as set out in our Complaints Policy.
Stage 1
The people who can best deal with any problems you have are those who directly provide the service. A Stage 1 complaint will be responded to by the department concerned.
You will receive a reply within 10 working days. If the matter cannot be resolved in that time, you will get a letter or email explaining the reasons why it is not possible to respond within the 10 workign days and providing you with a new deadline. The Council will decide whether an extension to this timescale is needed when considering the complexity of the complaint and then inform you of the expected timescale for response. Any extension should be no more than 10 working days without good reason, and the reason(s) should be clearly explained to you. If you are dissatisfied with the reasons for the extension you may contact the relevant Ombudsman. The details of the Ombudsmen are set out below.
Complaints about the housing management service
If you are a tenant or leaseholder of Dover District Council and are unhappy with the service you have received, in the first instance you must raise your complaint to the housing department. Please find out about our housing complaints here: Complaints about the Housing Management Service.
Stage 2
If you are unhappy with the outcome of Stage 1, you can take the matter further and ask that a member of the Council’s Corporate Services Team consider the matter. The Council will respond within 20 working days of acknowledging your request to escalate the complaint. As part of the Stage 1 response you will be provided with details on how to escalate your complaint to Stage 2.
he Council will decide whether an extension to this timescale is needed when considering the complexity of the complaint and then inform you of the expected timescale for response. Any extension should be no more than 20 working days without good reason, and the reason(s) should be clearly explained to you. If you are dissatisfied with the reasons for the extension you may contact the relevant Ombudsman. The details of the Ombudsmen are set out below.
A shorter dedicated leaflet is also available.
The Housing Ombudsman and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
If you remain unhappy with how the Council has resolved your complaint following the conclusion of the Stage 2 process, you may escalate your complaint to the Ombudsman.
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
Website: http://www.lgo.org.uk/
Telephone: 0300 061 0614
Address: Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH
Housing Ombudsman
Website: Home | Housing Ombudsman Service (housing-ombudsman.org.uk)
Telephone: 0300 111 3000
Address: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston, PR2 0ET
Issues that the complaint procedure cannot address
The Council must accept a complaint unless there is a valid reason not to do so but certain issues will fall outside the complaints procedure such as:
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Something you have known about for more than 12 months unless there is good reason for the delay or if there are safeguarding or health and safety issues.
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Something you could appeal about to a tribunal (such as the Housing Benefit Appeals Service) or go to court about, unless there is a good reason why you should not be expected to do so
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Something affecting all or most of the people living in the district, such as a complaint regarding the setting of council tax.
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Something that has already been considered under the complaints policy.
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The Council's main housing repairs contractor has its own complaints process so where a tenant's complaint relates to a repairs issue dealt with by that contractor, the tenant will receive a response direct from the company in the first instance. If the tenant remains dissatisfied following the response it can be considered through the Council's complaints process.
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Allegations that a Councillor has failed to comply with the Code of Conduct for Members as there is a separate complaints process for these matters. Please see our section concerning Complaints about Councillors.
The Council is updating its Complaints Policy to reflect the Joint Complaints Handling Code of the two Ombudsmen in July 2024. As the current Complaints Policy is based on the previous non-statutory guidance, in the event of any discrepancy between the Council's current Complaints Policy and the Statutory Complaint Handling Code of the Housing Ombudsman Service, the statutory guidance will be followed.
Ombudsman Self-Assessments
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Self-Assessment and Annual Complaints Performance
| Ombudsman | Self-Assessment | Annual Complaints Performance | Ombudsmans Letter |
|---|
| Local Government and Social Care |
Self-Assessment 2024 |
Annual Complaints Performance 2024 |
Annual Letter 2024 |
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