Further information on complaints
This section provides additional information about resolving complaints.
The council has a code of conduct that applies to officers of the council and elected Members. This is to ensure standards of behaviour and professionalism. The Chief Executive’s Department can supply you with more information on this if required.
If, when you register your complaint, it is clear that the matter refers to another partner organisation then we shall refer your matter to them telling you what we have done and, if we know it, inform you of the complaints procedure that they follow.
You may direct complaints to your local elected councillor or to your Member of Parliament. Your councillor will decide whether to respond directly to you or ask the relevant officer of the council to do so on their behalf. In the latter case the complaint will then be dealt with in accordance with our complaints procedure.
Local Government Ombudsman
The Local Government 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 & 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 in their leaflet. If you would like one of these, they are available in our Help Shops, by calling the Help Line on 01737 276000, or contacting us by email at:
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.
Full details on how to contact the Local Government Ombudsman can be found at Contact us (Local Government Ombudsman website).
Freedom of information and the Data Protection Act
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act entitles anybody to ask a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (including Government departments), for any recorded information that they keep.
Guidance on making a FOI request can be found at Freedom of information (Directgov website).
If you have made a FOI request and have not been satisfied with the Council’s response, you can complain using our complaints procedure. If after following our complaints procedure, you want to take your FOI complaint further, you can contact the Information Commissioner by following the guidance at Information Commissionar's Office website.
Complaints about councillors
Please see the Complaints about councillors page for details and the complaints form.
Responsibility for considering complaints about councillors rests with the Borough Council's Standards (Assessment) Sub Committee. The Sub-Committee can only deal with complaints about alleged behaviour and conduct covered by the Members Code of Conduct.
Follow up
We may from time to time contact a sample of customers who have used our complaints process to ask for their feedback on the response they received. Your co-operation with this process is much appreciated as it will help us to improve the service we offer to you.
See also
- Making a complaint - the aims of our procedure
- Complaints -Informal stage
- Formal complaints - stage 1
- Formal complaints - stage 2
Related websites
- Standards Board for England website
- Freedom of information (Directgov website)
- Local Government Ombudsman website.
Contact us
Email customer.services@reigate-banstead.gov.uk.
Last updated : 17/04/2012
