Watford Borough Council

You can make a comment, compliment or complaint in person, by phone or in writing - by letter, email or online.

What can I complain about?

You can make a complaint about any of our services if you think we have

• treated you unfairly or disrespectfully;
• not done something we should have done;
• not provided any information you have asked for under the Freedom of Information Act , the  Environmental Information Regulations or Data Protection Act 1998
• done something badly; or
• not delivered a service within the time promised.

What can I not complain about?

You cannot use the complaints procedure to complain about the following. This is because they are dealt with under their own procedures. We have put links to access these processes where available:

• Rehousing
• Offers of housing
• Council tax bills and council tax benefit decisions
• Housing Benefit decisions
• Licensing decisions
• Planning decisions
• Parking tickets
• Appeals to legal notices
• Decisions our councillors have made
• complaints about something that has been to court or is going to court;
• formal cautions such as those about noise nuisance;
• or insurance claims against us such as claims for damage caused to property.

If you have a complaint, we will do the following:

Step one
We will record your complaint (whether we received it by telephone, in writing or in person). Our staff will do their best to settle your complaint at step one and respond within 10 working days.

At any stage we will tell you if we are not able to respond within these timescales or if we need to handle your complaint differently.

Step two
If you are not happy with the response we gave at step one you can write and tell us within 15 working days of receiving our response. We will arrange for a manager to investigate and respond within another 10 working days from the date we receive your letter, or you can ask to have a meeting. The person who comes to the meeting will usually be from the service area your complaint relates to. They will then respond within five working days from the date of the meeting.

Step three
If you are still not happy with the response we gave at step two, you can write to the Head of Service within 15 working days. They will respond to you within a further 10 working days from receiving your letter.

If you are still not happy
You can contact the Local Government Ombudsman if you are still not happy with the way we have handled your complaint and you have already gone through the three steps of the complaints procedure.

Information Commissioner
If you have asked us for information under either the Freedom of Information Act, the Environmental Information Regulations or the Data Protection Act and you are not happy with the response you have received, you should ask us to look at your request again. This will be done by a different officer to the one that looked at your request originally. If you are still not happy with our response after we have looked at your request again, you can complain to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner has been appointed by the Government to make sure organisations keep to the Freedom of Information Act, the Environmental Information Regulations and the Data Protection Act.

For more information about the Information Commissioner please visit their website at: www.ico.gov.uk

You can call them on: 08456 30 60 60 or: 01625 54 57 45. You can also contact the Compliance Team at: Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
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