Complaints procedure

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is independent of Government or local councils and provides impartial, confidential and free investigation of complaints about local authorities.

For example, whether a council gave you incorrect information, made a decision in the wrong way, treated you unfairly, did not follow its own rules or the law or took too long to do something.

Before the service can investigate a complaint, the council must be given an opportunity to answer the complaint. The Ombudsman prefers to take up complaints that have been through the council’s own complaints' procedure. In Reigate and Banstead that means the complaint should have been through both stages of the formal procedure.

There are certain matters that the Ombudsman Service cannot investigate and information on this is provided on their website with additional information on their complaints' procedure: Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

If your complaint is housing-related, you should contact the Housing Ombudsman. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about councils with the aim of putting things right if they have gone wrong. 

The Ombudsman does not usually criticise the merits of a decision which has been properly taken simply because someone may disagree with it. He or she will, however, look at the way the decision was made.

The Ombudsman publishes an Annual Review of councils' performance each year. The most recent review can be found on the Ombudsman's website: Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman - Reigate & Banstead Annual Review. Full details on how to contact the Local Government Ombudsman can be found at: Contact us - Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.