We’re committed to delivering excellent public services and putting customers at the heart of everything we do. We’re dedicated to listening to your feedback and using it to learn and improve.
We’ll try to resolve most complaints at the first point of contact so we can address the issue as efficiently and quickly as possible.
In the first instance, please talk to the person or team who provided the service. They’ll try to resolve things for you quickly.
Before you make a complaint
If you have not raised the issue before, there may be a faster and more efficient way to resolve your concern. For example:
- reporting a fault with a streetlight or reporting a pothole – we manage highways issues most effectively if people use our online reporting form
- reporting a missed bin collection
- reporting a noisy neighbour
- reporting antisocial behaviour, such as;
- querying a planning application
- appealing a parking ticket
- making a request for home care services
If you have a service request or wish to report a problem, but are unsure how to do this, please contact us.
If you still need to make a complaint, it’ll be useful for you to have:
- specific examples of what happened and who was involved
- dates the incidents took place
- any background information that could be relevant (such as letters or emails)
- an understanding of what you would like to achieve by making a complaint
If your complaint is more than 12 months old
We can only accept complaints about matters that have happened more than 12 months ago if there’s an adequate reason and exceptional circumstances.
If you wish to discuss making a complaint outside the 12-month timescale, please contact our Information and Case Management Team.
Complain about housing, schools, councillors or social care
Some of our services have their own complaints procedure. Others have a different organisation to contact if you're unhappy with our response.
- complain about a school
- complain about a councillor
- complain about children’s or adult social care
- complain about housing services
Using Artificial Intelligence to write your complaint
We have seen an increase in customers using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to draft complaints to us. If you’re using AI to do this, you should be aware of the risks and what to look out for.
We want to hear about your complaint in your own words, this helps us to understand what happened and how it affected you. Using AI tools is ok, but please be aware that AI can:
- make complaints too long or complicated
- include legal language or references that are not needed or legally incorrect
- delay how quickly we deal with your complaint or mean we ask you to send it again
Protecting your information
Information you provide to AI is used to train AI systems and may be processed outside of the UK, which can cause data privacy issues.
Do not include personal details in AI tools, such as:
- names
- addresses
- NHS numbers
- other information that could identify you
Only add your personal details when you submit your complaint through our online form.
To use AI safely when writing a complaint, you should:
- focus on your experience - explain what happened and how it affected you
- stick to the facts - only include what actually happened
- avoid legal wording - do not ask ai to add laws or formal legal language
- check your complaint before sending it - make sure it is accurate and reflects your own words
Example prompts you can use
When drafting your complaint, do not include personal details. Use placeholders such as “[the officer]” or “[my relative]” instead.
You can try prompts like these:
- explain what happened - help me organise what happened on [date]. These are the details: [add facts]
- set out what went wrong - help me turn these issues into clear sentences. Focus on the facts only
- write in plain English - help me describe what happened clearly and simply, in my own words
- explain the impact on you - help me explain how this affected me, including my health, work or family
- turn it into a complaint - rewrite this as a clear and polite complaint, do not add new information, keep it professional but not too formal and include what I would like to happen next
How to make a complaint
You can make a complaint by using our online form.
You can also make a complaint by:
Email: complaints@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk
Telephone: 01539 637 437
Post: Information and Case Management Team
Westmorland and Furness Council
South Lakeland House
Lowther Street
Kendal
LA9 4DQ
Please contact us if you need adjustments or have additional needs to make a complaint. For example, if you need information printed in Braille or translated into another language. We’ll discuss this with you to agree how we can best help.
Our Compliments and Complaints Policy (PDF , 199KB)
Unacceptable behaviour
We aim to treat all customers with courtesy and politeness. We recognise that you may be angry, frustrated, upset and have issues of genuine concern.
We also have a duty to protect the safety and welfare of our staff and expect people to treat us with the same consideration and respect.
Our unreasonable customer policy can be found in the Compliments and Complaints Policy.
Once you’ve made your complaint
The complaints process consists of two stages. We aim to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction as soon as we can at stage one.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has published a code for local government that sets out how local authorities should handle complaints:
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman - Complaint Handling Code
They have also published statistics on how we have handled previous complaints.
Stage one
We’ll acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receiving it. We’ll then allocate your complaint to the most appropriate person to investigate the issue.
We’ll provide a full response within 10 working days from our acknowledgement. However, if your complaint is more complex and needs further consideration we can extend the timescale by another 10 working days. If we need to extend the response period, we’ll clearly explain our decision and reasoning to you.
If you need to add new information to your complaint
You may wish to give us additional information whilst your complaint is going through the process.
If the information is related to the original issue, we’ll add this to your complaint and take it into account when we respond to you.
If the information is not related to your original complaint, we’ll log it as a separate and new complaint.
Stage two
If we’ve not been able to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction at stage one, you can progress it to stage two.
Usually, you must contact us within 10 working days of receiving your stage one response. However, we can sometimes accept complaints after this timescale, on a case-by-case basis.
If you want to progress your complaint to stage two, you’ll need to tell us what parts of the complaint you’re not satisfied with.
We’ll acknowledge your complaint within five working days of you escalating it.
Stage two is a review of how adequate the stage one response was, as well as any new and relevant information that we’ve not considered. It’s not a more thorough, detailed investigation of your complaint.
We’ll provide a full and final response to your complaint within 20 working days of acknowledging it. If your complaint requires a complex investigation, we can extend the response timescale by a further 20 working days. This will allow us to provide you with the best response possible and we’ll contact you to explain if this is the case.
If your complaint is not resolved
If you’re unhappy with the outcome of your complaint at Stage 2, or you feel we have not answered within a reasonable timescale, you can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
You can also send a letter to:
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV04 0EH
Or contact them by telephone on 0300 061 0614