Complaints, compliments and suggestions
Service requests and reporting issues
If you need to contact one of our services about an issue or report then please do this directly with the service. Any service requests submitted as a complaint will not be investigated as a complaint.
To find the details you need you can:
- search our website
- go to the report it section
- use our MyNelincs self-service portal
- use the contact us page
Give us your feedback
We want to provide good quality services for everyone, but things can sometimes go wrong. If they do, we need to know so we can put them right and learn from them. If you are unhappy with any of our services, you need to complete our complaints, compliments or suggestions form.
To find out how we deal with all of the feedback we receive you can read our Feedback Policy (PDF, 221KB) .
We know that some people lack confidence in their ability to write or get their concerns across. As a result, they may worry that they are not going to be understood or taken seriously, so many are turning to AI to help them present their concerns.
However, AI can cause its own problems because it:
- can make mistakes
- makes problems much larger and complex than they need to be
- can introduce facts that are not correct
- can refer to laws and regulations that do not exist, or misinterpret those that do
- makes everyone sound the same, so any personal element is lost
- can mask people’s vulnerabilities
In some cases, people have not understood their complaint response because the genuine concerns in their complaint got lost in the AI-assisted version.
Which way is best?
We much prefer to hear from our residents and service users directly, in their own words, about how they have been affected. Complaints written in simple, clear terms will always be quicker and easier to understand, and therefore to reply to. If we’re not clear what you mean, we’ll get in touch to ensure we understand what the problem is. All complaints are considered equally on merit, however they are written or submitted.
If you need help, or aren’t sure about something, email us on [email protected] and one of our Feedback team members will get back to you.
If you do want to use AI to support you, then please bear in mind the following:
- It’s your complaint, so it’s important you read it through carefully to ensure it is accurate before you submit it to us
- Focus on you and your experiences, and the impact they have had on you
- By using an AI tool generally available over the internet, you may be sharing sensitive personal information which might be used to train that AI system and/or be processed overseas
- Consider using one of the suggested prompts in the section below
- If we receive an AI-assisted complaint (or subsequent related correspondence) that is overly long or complex, we may ask you to resubmit it in a different form, or we may decide it is appropriate to produce a concise statement of complaint for you to approve
Please note that if we need more time to understand an AI-assisted complaint or related correspondence, the formal procedure and timescale will not commence until we are content, we have done so.
Suggested prompts
- I need to clearly explain what happened on [date] when [describe the situation]. Here are the details: [provide all the facts and circumstances]. Help me organise these into a clear structure that shows what happened first, second, third and so on. Only use the information I have provided.
- I need help organising this information about what the [organisation] did wrong: [list all the specific issues]. Please help me put this into clear sentences. Focus on the facts of what actually happened, do not make any assumptions or include any legal references or arguments.
- Help me describe what happened in simple, clear language: [describe each issue in detail, including who was involved, what they said or did, and when it happened]. Help me express this clearly while keeping it in my own voice.
- Help me explain how this affected my daily life and how it made me feel. Here’s what happened to me: [describe specific impacts on your health, work, family, finances or emotions. Explain how long problems lasted, what you couldn’t do and any on-going effects]. Make sure each impact is connected to what went wrong.
- Rewrite the text below as a clear, polite complaint. Use only the information I have provided. Do not add or invent new facts. Be concise and professional, but not too formal or legal. Include a closing paragraph suggesting how I would like the complaint to be resolved.
Types of feedback
Suggestions
If you would like to make a suggestion about how we can improve, please let us know by using the complaints, compliments or suggestions form .
If you have had a pleasant experience please tell us about it. We like to hear when people compliment us on the quality of our service and of the special attention given by our employees. Compliments help us understand what we are doing well and what our customers really value and help us evidence examples of good practice and improve other areas of the council.
Compliments
To submit a compliment please complete our complaints, compliments or suggestions form. Compliments are passed to the relevant Head of Service who will pass the feedback to the service manager or employee and thank them for providing excellent service to the customer.
The section will not deal with the following as a complaint:
Benefits – if your concern relates to the amount of benefit you have been awarded, an amount of overpaid housing benefit or the date you benefit is paid from, then these are all covered under the Benefits Appeals procedure.
Council Tax -if you have any concerns over your account including the amount you have to pay, when you have to pay, if monies have not arrived on your account or issues relating to overdue amounts then you should contact the Council Tax section on [email protected]. More details can be found at Council Tax.
Non-Domestic Rates (Business Rates) – If you have any issues or concerns over your account in relation to the amount you have to pay, when you have to pay or you believe you should be entitled to a relief or exemption. Please contact the Non-Domestic Rates team at [email protected]. Further information about business rates can be found on the Business Rates page.
Debt Management – Any issues relating to overdue amounts should be addressed by contacting the Debt Management team on [email protected] This includes any concerns relating to Court Costs and Enforcement Agents Costs. To tell us about any vulnerability or hardship issues regarding attachment of earnings you should contact us on [email protected]. Also if your issue relates to Freeman of the Land or Contract to pay Council Tax, this should be sent to [email protected] Further information can be found at Can’t afford to pay your council tax bill.
If you are unhappy with the adult social care services you or someone you care for has received, you have the right to raise a concern or complaint.
You can raise a concern or make a complaint about adult social care services that the local authority commissions from:
- Home Care agencies in NEL
- Care Homes in NEL
- Social work provision provided by Focus Independent Adult Social Work CIC.
Your concerns may relate to:
- Poor quality of care or support
- Delays in assessments or services
- Communication issues
- Staff conduct or behaviour
- Safeguarding concerns
- Decisions about funding
You can raise your complaint using the details on this page or directly with your provider.
If the concerns you are raising relate to children’s social care services the complaint may be progressed as a Statutory Children’s Social Care Complaint. Further details regarding this process can be found on the Children’s social care complaints page.
The Multi Agency Complaints Protocol (PDF, 51KB) is applied when feedback requires a co-ordinated handling across all organisations such as North East Lincolnshire Council, Clinical Commissioning Group and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS foundation trust.
This protocol is intended to ensure that any feedback about a jointly provided service, or that involves services provided by more than one organisation, is dealt with seamlessly, promptly and clearly through a co-ordinated process, and as stated in the Local Authority Social Service and NHS Complaints (England) Regulations 2009.
Complaints about Elected Members and Parish Councillors are conducted under the Code of Conduct.
If you wish to complain about any aspect of how we have processed your personal information or applied the data protection regulations please go to Data Protection and privacy.
Find details in our housing section.
If your child has a problem at school you should be able to sort it out through an informal discussion with your child’s teacher. If you can’t resolve the problem informally, the school will have a formal complaints procedure that you can follow.
If your complaint is about the head teacher, then you should contact the chair of the governing body of the school to consider your concern/complaint. If the complaint is about the conduct of a governor, this should be referred to the chair of the governing body in the first instance. The chair will investigate your concerns. If the complaint is about the chair of the governing body, this will be investigated by the vice chair.
To complain about the governing body as a whole go to GOV.UK – Complain about a school .
Our corporate complaints procedure does not provide compensation if you have suffered damage or loss.
If it is your intention to make a claim then you should submit this to our insurance team.
Making a complaint through the normal complaints process may delay the response.
If you are unhappy with the handling of your Freedom of Information request you should follow the appeal rights given with the response you received or contact [email protected].
If you have exhausted all stages of the Corporate or Statutory Complaints processes and feel that your complaint has still not been satisfactorily resolved, you can take your issue to the Local Government and social Care Ombudsman.
If you are contacting us to raise an issue with a missed collection you should do this via the online form available on the Missed collections page.
Contact details
- 01472 326298 (option 2, then 1)
- [email protected]
- Municipal Offices, Town Hall Square, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, DN31 1HU
