Effective complaint handling enables our customers to be heard and understood. The starting point for this is a shared understanding of what constitutes a service request and what constitutes a complaint.

A service request may be defined as: “a request that the organisation provides or improves a service, fixes a problem or reconsiders a decision”. We will aim to resolve matters to your satisfaction before they become a complaint. 

A complaint may be defined as: ‘an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual or group of individuals.’ 

You should 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 should still be handled in line with our complaints policy.

Local Councillor - You may also wish to take the matter up through your local Councillor.

Housing Ombudsman - Please note that you can contact Housing Ombudsman Service throughout your complaint.

We acknowledge that the complaint handling code from both the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and Housing Ombudsman expect stage one complaints to be completed within 10 working days. We are ambitious and working hard to reduce our timescales in line with these expectations, and will be closely monitoring our performance. Our current timescales are below and these will be kept under review for the next 12 months.

Acknowledgement - Once you have submitted your complaint, we will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days sharing with you a CU reference number. This is a unique reference number that you can use when corresponding with us regarding your complaint. We will also summarise the main issues you are raising and the outcomes you are seeking if we have not accurately reflected what you are unhappy about, please let us know as soon as possible.

Stage 1 - Complaints will be completed within a maximum of 20 working days from the date of acknowledgement: as a Local Authority, we are aiming to complete complaint responses within 10 working days post acknowledgement. This is unless we explain why we cannot complete the complaint investigation within that time frame and agree a date with you for completion of the complaint investigation. 

In your stage one complaint response we will clearly provide information on

• the complaint stage
• the complaint definition
• the decision on the complaint
• the reasons for any decisions made
• the details of any remedy offered to put things right
• details of any outstanding actions.

We will be responsible for the completion of any outstanding actions and providing suitable updates on our progress – this can include booking appointments, liaising with contractors and third parties, organising sign offs of completed tasks

• details of how to escalate the matter to stage two if the resident is not satisfied with the answer

During the complaint investigation if you identify any new related issue you should let us know and these can be investigated as part of the original complaint.

If you ned to raise something new and unrelated this will be done as a new stage one complaint. If one of our contractors is responsible for the stage 1 response that will count as the first stage of MKCC’s complaints process. We work closely with our contractors to ensure that they administer complaint investigations appropriately, applying the MKCC corporate policy and undertake customer service training over seen by MKCC. You will not be expected to raise a separate case with us directly. If you are not happy with the response you receive at stage one, you can contact us within a month and ask for your complaint to be investigated at stage two.

Stage 2 - Customers and residents should contact us, within twenty working days, to escalate their complaint. These complaint investigations will be carried out by a new investigating officer. Complaint responses will be completed within a total of 20 working days from the acknowledgement date. To help us to do this, we will work with you to understand:

• What you are specifically unhappy about within the stage one response
• The impact of on you of the concerns you have raised
• What you expect the Council to do to put things right

Your feedback on these points will be considered. If we believe the stage one response answered all of these points, or if we need clarification on any of them, we will contact you. We will then follow our acknowledgement process.

Depending on the complexity of the investigation we may need to extend the timescales for stage two investigations by an additional 10 working days but this will be agreed with you in good time. We will keep you up to date on progress at agreed intervals.

In your stage two complaint response we will clearly provide information on

• the complaint stage
• the complaint definition
• the decision on the complaint
• the reasons for any decisions made
• the details of any remedy offered to put things right
• details of any outstanding actions and
• details of how to escalate the matter to the Housing Ombudsman Service if you remain dissatisfied.

Note – we would expect you to send us a stage two request within a month of the date of our stage one response. We will use our discretion when considering stage two requests received after this. We would not consider any stage two request once 12 months have elapsed after the stage one response, unless there is a compelling reason to do so.

Housing Ombudsman - Please note that you can contact Housing Ombudsman Service throughout your complaint. For more information visit the Housing Ombudsman Service website.

We will not normally consider a complaint that is made more than twelve months after the individual first became aware of the issue they want to complain about.

Anyone can make a complaint on your behalf if you are unable to do so. They will need signed authorisation from you.  Please be assured that all complaints, comments, and compliments will be dealt with in confidence.

Milton Keynes Council Customer Service Privacy Notice

• Complaints Policy

It is important that all members of the community have equal access to our Customer Feedback Policy. If you do not have English as a first language or might need help with interpretation and translation services, or require sign language, braille or large print, we can make this policy available to you in an accessible format. Contact our complaints team on the information above.