The complaints procedure for adult social care and children’s services are different from most of the other services we provide.
Complaints about children’s social care services
There are three stages to the procedure. If you are unhappy with our response at any stage, you can choose to take your complaint further.
You can also withdraw your complaint at any stage.
Complaining will not guarantee that you get new or alternative services, but you may get an explanation about the lack of services or decisions made.
If you need support with your complaint, please contact The National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS). They will support you through the process and facilitate contact with the relevant council service.
Find more information on advocacy services on the NYAS website
Make a service request on the NYAS portal on the NYAS website
Stage one - local resolution and problem solving
Most complaints can be settled quite simply by discussing your problem with a member of staff on hand or with the team in Children's Services.
We aim to settle your complaint as quickly as possible, usually between 10 and 20 working days.
If it is not possible to settle your complaint locally, or you remain dissatisfied with the answer you receive, you may want to take your complaint to stage two of the procedure.
Stage two - investigation stage
If your complaint cannot be resolved locally, you can request for it to be considered at stage two by an Investigating Officer and Independent Person who will be appointed to examine your complaint.
A complaint investigation at this stage can take between 25 and 65 working days.
Stage three - Review Panel
If you're not happy with the explanation or solution offered to you at stage two, you have the right to ask for any outstanding issues to be considered again, this time by an Independent Review Panel.
The Independent Review Panel should meet within 30 days of you requesting it. Afterwards, the Panel must provide you with its report within five working days. The council then has 15 working days to respond to the Panel’s findings.
Complaints about children’s social care are investigated under:
- The Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006
- Good Practice Guidance - Children's Statutory Complaints Procedure
Complaints about adult social care services
When we receive a complaint, we will usually try to speak or meet with you to find out a bit more about it and what we think can resolve it. This process helps us work together to ensure we are considering the matter thoroughly.
We will put things right if we can, within an agreed timescale.
If we cannot resolve a complaint, we will always provide a full and open explanation of our decisions or actions.
Complaints about Adult Social Care are investigated under The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009.
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
Make a complaint about children’s or adult social care services
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.