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If you have a comment, compliment or complaint

If you have a comment or compliment

We would like to hear from you if you have a suggestion on how we can improve our service or if you are happy with any part of the service you have received. You can do this in person or by letter, email or telephone - see our contact details below.

If you have a complaint

We take complaints very seriously. While we try to provide a good service, we know that sometimes things go wrong.  We have developed a complaint’s procedure in response to this.

We aim to sort out complaints quickly and fairly and we wil try to sort out any mistake or understanding straight away. Sometimes it may take longer, but we will tell you how long it will take.

A complaint is usually about a specific incident, such as:

• the way we responded to your original problem
• the attitude or behaviour of our staff
• our failure to meet our standards of performance

Our customer promise

If you think that we have broken our promises, or you feel we’ve made a mistake, we take that very seriously. We will:

• make sure you know how to make your vioce heard through our complaints procedure
• train our staff so they know how to deal with your complaint
• acknowledge your complaint within five working days
• respond fully within 10 working days for a first-stage complaint, 15 working days for a second-stage complaint and 20 working days for a third-stage complaint
• investigate you complaint thoroughly and without taking sides
• keep your complaint confidential and be fair to everybody involved
• let you know the progres of your complaint
• apologise when we’ve made a mistake, and immediately take steps to fix the problem
• learn lessons from where we’ve gone wrong to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes in the future

How to contact us

• Call on 023 9283 4702
• Visit us in person
• Write to
  The comments, compliments and complaints team, Portsmouth City Council,
  Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, PO1 2ZX
• Use our online compliment, comment or complaint form
• Send an email to ccc@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

If you need an interpreter or sign-language interpreter, we can arrange this for you. We usually need seven days’ notice to arrange this.

Social care

There is a different process to complain about social care.

Young people

A leaflet is available for young people so they can make any comments, compliments or complaints. For more information please call 023 9284 1172.

Associated documents:

  Comment, compliment or complaint leaflet  (0.32 MB)
Annual Social Care Complaints Report 2007-08  (0.08 MB)
Annual Social Care Complaints Report 2006-07  (0.05 MB)
Comment, compliment or complaint leaflet for children supported by social care  (0.22 MB)
Comments, compliments and complaints strategy and objectives  (0.06 MB)

Comment, compliment or complaint?

How to make a complaint
How to make a complaint about our social care services
If something has happened at school