The Complaint Handling Code

We have issued our Complaint Handling Code to local councils under our powers to issue advice and guidance under section 23(12A) of the 1974 Local Government Act. This means councils should demonstrate they have considered the Code when developing policies and procedures and responding to individual complaints. We consider the Code to be good practice for other authorities.

The Code sets out our expectations for complaint handling as well as scrutiny and oversight by senior officers and elected officials.

Statutory complaints processes

The Code does not apply to complaints where there are statutory processes in place. This includes:

• Certain complaints about children’s services;
• Complaints about local authority adult social care provision;
• Complaints about public health matters.

We can still investigate these complaints even though they are not covered by the Code.

Organisations should have policies and procedures for dealing with any complaints they may receive and these should be in line with the Code or relevant statutory complaints process.

Complaints about contracted or commissioned services

Councils and authorities are increasingly either outsourcing or commissioning services. It is important that organisations consider how complaints about the service will be dealt with when drawing up any contracts or service level agreements and that the service provider is aware that a complainant can bring their complaint to the Ombudsman. We have set out some basic principles a council or authority may wish to consider when it is going through the process of arranging outsourced or commissioned services.

Councils frequently provide local public services by arrangement with a third party partner, e.g:

• commissioning specific services from a private or third sector provider (e.g. a care home place or housing repairs)
• contracting for a provider to undertake a whole service area (e.g. that of the local housing authority or highways authority)
• setting up a separate limited company under council ownership to provide services (e.g. to a defined customer group with a specialist focus)
• entering a partnership with other councils, NHS bodies, or other agencies to deliver combined or shared services which include council responsibilities (e.g. mental health or learning disability partnership trusts).

The law says the Ombudsman can treat the actions of third parties as if they were actions of the council, where any such third party arrangements exist (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(6) to 25(8). This means councils keep responsibility for third party actions, including complaint handling, no matter what the arrangements are with that party.

The processes for dealing with complaints from members of the public and disputes between the council and the provider, perhaps as a result of such complaints, should be clearly differentiated.

Councils should include clear arrangements for complaint handling in any contract or agreement under which its partners provide public services.

The arrangements should:

• be consistent with the Code or relevant statutory complaints process.
• reflect the nature of the contract. For example, a large care provider may have resources to manage its own complaints procedures, but a smaller, single care home business may not.
• include clear agreement on how the council or its partner will handle a complaint regardless of which of them receives it; who is responsible for telling citizens about the arrangements and when; who will be responsible for responding to them, and what procedure to use.

All complaints should be dealt with in line with the Complaint Handling Code or relevant statutory process regardless of whether they are handled by the council, its contractor or commissioned service. Members of the public should not have to navigate multiple stages of complaint handling before bringing their complaint to the Ombudsman.

The role of Councillors and elected officials

Elected officials can support local people to raise complaints. These will often be received as a “Members enquiry” by the council or authority. In most cases these will be requests to put something right or gain understanding about what has happened and could be classed as service requests. However, it is important that elected officials are made aware of the complaints process and that they may raise a complaint on someone’s behalf.

Elected officials also have an important role to play in scrutinising the council’s performance in relation to complaint handling. Other authorities may have governing bodies who carry out a similar function.

The Complaint Handling Code sets out the role of elected officials or a governing body in scrutinising how organisations handle complaints and use complaints data to inform service delivery. Elected officials must also receive an annual report regarding the council’s performance in relation to statutory complaints about children and adult care services.

We have produced the following resources for local councillors to support their role in scrutinising service delivery and helping local people raise complaints:

• Advice for Councillors and MPs on making a complaint or helping others
• How to scrutinise your council
• Scrutiny questions