Complaints

The council’s corporate complaints policy has changed.

A new corporate complaints policy has now come into effect. It applies to all new complaints and to all complaints that are at stage one of the complaints process. Any complaints that are already at stage two of the process on 1 December 2021 will continue to be managed under the 2018 policy.

View the new corporate complaints policy

View the 2018 corporate complaints policy

We are committed to putting our customers first by providing excellent customer service. This means:

• We will listen to you and be polite, helpful and respectful.
• We will try as hard as we can to resolve your enquiry quickly and first time.
• We will make sure the information we give you us clear, helpful and easy to understand.
• We will do what we say we are going to do.

We take all complaints very seriously. While we try to provide a good service, we know that sometimes things go wrong. We have developed a complaints procedure for you to use if you feel that this is the case.

Sometimes residents send complaints to us that could be dealt with more quickly by contacting the correct team. You may want to check with the relevant department before sending a complaint, as it may be that we can solve the problem straight away. Some of the most common are:

• Complaining about a missed bin collection – you can report a missed collection using our online form, as our recycling and rubbish team deal with these issues.
• Complaining about a street issue (fly-tipping, street light failure, etc.) – you can use the street issues form to report this to our city helpdesk.
• Housing issues (repairs or other problems) – you can use our housing repairs form, or view the contact us page to find the contact details of your local housing office.

If you want to make a formal complaint, it will be dealt with according to our complaints policy. This sets out the process for how we will respond to your complaint, and what happens if you disagree with our response.

There are many ways you can submit a formal complaint to the council:

• You can visit us in person at the Civic Offices
• You can phone our complaints line on 023 9283 4702
• You can submit a complaint using our online form
• You can email us at complimentcomplaint@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
• You can write to us at:

Suggestions, compliments and complaints,
Portsmouth City Council,
Civic Offices,
Guildhall Square,
Portsmouth,
PO1 2ZX

Everyone has a right to have someone act on their behalf. You can be represented by:

• A member of your family
• Your partner
• A friend
• An attorney, advocate or solicitor
• A local councillor (find your local councillor)
• An MP

We need to have proper consent before we can discuss the complaint with your representative. This is normally written consent, giving them permission to act on your behalf.

Corporate complaints policy 2021 (applies to all new complaints and complaints that are still at stage one of the complaints process by 1 December 2021).

Corporate complaints policy 2018 (this policy applies to any complaints that are already at stage two of the complaints process on 1 December 2021).

• Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Reviews