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Complaints and compliments

Ashfield District Council is committed to continually improving the quality of, and access to, the services it provides. To help us improve our services, we want to know if you think we have got things wrong and when you think we have done things well.

Information before making a complaint or compliment

We often receive enquiries as complaints where our customers do not actually want to make a complaint but are unsure of how to raise their query. Some of our top queries, and the ways to raise them are below.

Additionally, if you have a query, request, or comment about our services, we encourage you to contact the relevant service area directly first, which may result in an earlier resolution. If you are unsure of who to contact, please email info@ashfield.gov.uk or call 01623 450000 to be directed to the relevant services area.

However, if you are dissatisfied with our service then the details of how to make a complaint are below.

Please do not email your request to an individual officer as this will lead to delays in your complaint being resolved.

How to make a complaint or compliment

Ashfield District Council is unable to handle complaints for services provided by Nottinghamshire County Council.

This includes complaints about:

  • Roads and pathways (including streetlighting and potholes)
  • Gritting
  • Libraries
  • Social care
  • School admissions
  • Bus passes.

Please visit Nottinghamshire County Council to complain directly.

For any compliments or complaints about a service provided by Ashfield District Council, please follow the link below.

Make a compliment or complaint

Complaints process

The full policy for complaints and compliments is available on this website and complaints will be investigated as follows.

For the purposes of calculating the timescales set out below, the day the complaint is received is day zero, if the complaint is received on a non-working day (e.g. weekend or bank holiday) the date the complaint is received will be considered as the next working day, in line with Ombudsman guidance.

Stage 1: Formal response from a relevant manager

  • Your complaint will be acknowledged within five working days, if you have used our online form, you should receive confirmation that your online submission has been received
  • You should receive a response within 10 working days from the day after your complaint is acknowledged
  • Where this is not possible, we will contact you explaining the reasons for the delay and give a date when you can expect a full response, however, this date must not exceed a further 10 days without good reason
  • If you are dissatisfied with the response the complaint can be escalated to Stage 2. The request should contain new / additional information.

Stage 2: Review and response from the relevant Assistant or Executive Director

  • Your complaint will be acknowledged within 5 working days
  • A full review will be undertaken, and a response will be provided within 20 working days of your complaint being acknowledged
  • Where this is not possible, we will contact you explaining the reasons for the delay and give a date when you can expect a full response, however, this date must not exceed a further 10 days without good reason.

Referral to the Ombudsman

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint, then you may wish to complain directly to the relevant Ombudsman. Both the Housing Ombudsman Service and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman are independent of all government bodies and can look into your complaint. They will usually only consider a complaint after it has been through our complaints procedure as they expect you to bring your concerns to our attention first and give us a chance to put things right. The full contact details for the relevant Ombudsman can be found in our Complaints and compliments policy.

Complaints satisfaction

Once we've responded we'd like to know how satisfied you were with how your complaint was handled and the outcome through our Complaints satisfaction survey form.

Unreasonable or unreasonably persistent complainants

We are committed to dealing with all complaints fairly and impartially. On occasions, certain complaints can be difficult to resolve and can cause anxiety and distress to customers and employees. Whilst the aim of the Council is always to try to find a way to resolve matters, there are occasions when customers become unreasonable or unreasonably persistent in their actions to obtain the outcome that they want. There is a separate policy to deal with any unreasonably persistent complainants