Complaints

Runnymede Borough Council recognises the importance of providing an excellent service to every member of our community. A core part of this is an open, responsive approach to feedback and complaints.

We recognise that, sometimes, we do not always meet the high standards we set ourselves. Your comments are important as they help us to identify why things have not gone well and how we can improve in the future. 

We define complaints as an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual or group of individuals. If you feel something has gone wrong, we encourage you to try to resolve matters with the person you have been dealing with first. 

Your complaint will be dealt with fairly and impartially and as promptly as possible. We aim to acknowledge complaints within 5 working days of receipt and respond fully within 10 working days of acknowledging receipt by the relevant staff who will keep you updated if that is not possible. Our acknowledgement will tell you who your complaint has been allocated to and what our understanding is of your complaint.

What is a complaint?

In simple terms, a complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about anything we have done, or perhaps not done. It might be about:

✓ failure to deliver a service

✓ delay in providing a service

✓ unsatisfactory quality of a service

✓ failure of our staff in following Council policy

What is not a complaint?

There are certain subject areas that we would not consider as a complaint, these include:

⭙about something that has happened more than 12 months ago

⭙if there is another internal appeals process you need to follow; 
          for example disputing a penalty charge notice

⭙legal action (papers submitted to court) has already been
          commenced about the matter

⭙there is a statutory right of appeal in place to a tribunal, government
          minister or court

⭙there is an internal appeal process such as housing allocations -
          but there is no subsequent right of appeal to a court or tribunal

⭙the matter has already been appealed to a court or tribunal

⭙the matter has already been dealt with under our complaints policy
          and procedure and is not a new complaint

In certain cases, the Council reserves the right to consider complaints as unreasonably persistent and decline to respond to further approaches. The decision  to classify a complainant as unreasonably persistent will be taken by a senior manager in accordance with our policy.

For complaints regarding services provided by Surrey County Council, please submit your report online via their website.

Common service requests

A request that an organisation provides or improves a service, fixes a problem or reconsiders a decision.

The following subject areas would not be considered as a complaint, these include:

If you wish to appeal against a Statutory notice or decision, details of how to appeal should be included on the notice you received. If not contact the relevant Council Service who will be able to help.

Runnymede Borough Council recognises the importance of providing an excellent service to every member of our community. A core part of this is an open, responsive approach to feedback and complaints.

Have your say related pages