How to register a complaint

First make sure you have read and understood our step by step process to making a complaint.

Anybody can complain and we are a free service. But you should give the organisation you are complaining about chance to sort out your complaint first. You should go through all stages of the organisation’s complaint process.

If you are a councillor or MP, you can help local people complain, with their permission. You can only complain about your own council if you’re complaining about a service you receive and you have been personally affected.

The most efficient way to register a complaint

If you want to make a complaint please use our online complaint form. By doing so you help us to keep our telephone helpline for people who cannot go online, need help to do so or who want general advice about the complaints process.

Part of completing our online complaint form requires you to create an account. This gives you easy access to the status of your case. To create an account you will need to verify your details through an email address, and also through an SMS (text message) code the first time the first time you log in.

Our complaint form will ask you some questions about your complaint and guide you on the type of information we need. This includes telling us what your complaint is about and how this has affected you. You will also need to tell us why you are not happy with the organisation's response. We will ask for a copy of the last letter you received from the organisation, after it considered your complaint.

You don’t need to pay a professional person, like a solicitor, to complain for you. If you do, you will probably not get the fees refunded.

What to do if you cannot use our online complaint form or need general advice

Please visit contact us if you:

  • need help to use our online complaint form
  • cannot go online to complete the complaint form
  • need general advice on the complaints process

<go back to steps to making a complaint

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