Complaints

Make a complaint

Help us to provide you with a better service

All complaints are treated in a confidential manner, subject to Data Protection and Freedom of Information Legislation.

 Tell us when something has gone wrong so that we can put it right.

“A complaint is the expression of dissatisfaction with an organisations procedures, charges, employees, agents or quality of service”.Introduction

Argyll and Bute Council is committed to providing a high standard of service at a reasonable cost. To ensure that we maintain and improve our services we need you to tell us about our successes, failures or any suggestions for improvement.

Let us know if …

• You feel we have done something wrong.
• We have not done something we should have done.
• You have been treated unfairly.

From time to time things may go wrong. When this happens we want to put it right quickly and take action to prevent it happening again.

Some problems or enquiries are not complaints. For example, you don’t need to use the complaint procedure if:

• You want to query a letter or bill
• You want to report a repair (e.g. street lighting or pot-hole)
• You want to write to us objecting to a proposal e.g. planning application
• You want to write to us objecting to a Council policy

Simply contact the appropriate service.

Planning Complaints

You cannot use the complaints procedure to appeal against or change a planning decision made by the Council in accordance with Scottish planning legislation and related regulations and guidance.

Making a Complaint

How to Complain

You should make your initial complaint by filling in our online complaints form or by phoning:

You can also make your complaint by e-mail, in person or in writing to any Council office or by using the complaints form provided in this leaflet or the on-line complaints form.

Where a complaint specifically concerns allegations about the actions, personal conduct or attitude of an individual officer this must be in the form of a written statement either provided directly by the customer or signed by them.

The Council would hope that most complaints can be resolved informally by speaking directly to staff in your local area office.

However, if this is not possible, the Council has a three stage complaint procedure:

Stage One

The details of your complaint will be recorded on the Corporate Complaints System and if you have made your complaint by telephone then you will be given a complaint case reference number and details of the service which will be asked to investigate and respond to your complaint.

If you have made your complaint by email, in person or in writing then you will receive an acknowledgement within 3 working days, which will detail the complaint case reference number and the name of the officer who has been asked to investigate and respond to your complaint

The officer should respond to your complaint within 20 working days of the date on which we received your complaint.

Stage Two

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint at stage 1, you can ask for a review to be carried out by writing to the Departmental Complaints Officer detailed below. Please make sure you quote your stage 1 reference number.

The Departmental Complaints Officer will issue an acknowledgement within 3 working days, which will detail the complaint case reference number and the name of the Head of Service or designated officer who has been asked to review and respond to your complaint.

The Head of Service or designated officer should respond to your complaint within 20 working days of the date on which we received your complaint.

Departmental Complaints Officers

Chief Executive’s – Jillian Brown, Argyll and Bute Council, Kilmory, Lochgilphead, Argyll PA31 8RT (01546 604350)

Community Services (except Social Work and Education) – Diane McMillan, as above (01546 604232)

Customer Services – Iain Jackson, as above (01546 604188)

Development and Infrastructure Services - Lesley Sweetman, Argyll and Bute Council, Manse Brae, Lochgilphead Argyll PA31 8RD (01546 604123)

You can find out more information on what each department within the Council is responsible for on the Council Departments page.

Stage Three

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint at stage 2, you can ask for a further review to be carried out by writing to the Chief Executive, Argyll and Bute Council, Kilmory, Lochgilphead, Argyll PA31 8RT.  Please quote your stage 2 reference number.

A written acknowledgement will be sent to you within 3 working days, which will detail the complaint case reference number and the name of the designated officer who has been asked to review and respond to your complaint.

The officer should respond to your complaint within 20 working days of the date on which we received your complaint

If at any of the stages of the Complaints process the service is not in a position to respond to you within the 20 working day period then they must send a letter as soon as possible after 10 working days advising you of the reasons why they cannot respond and giving a date by which they will respond.

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

Finally, if you remain dissatisfied with the way we have dealt with your complaint you have the right to ask the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman to look at your complaint. The address of the Ombudsman’s Office is

4 Melville Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7NS
Freepost EH641, Edinburgh EH3 OBR
Tel: 0800 377 7330
Fax: 0800 377 7331
email: ask@spso.org.uk

Your Local Councillor or MP/MSP:

While you can also ask your local Councillor, MP or MSP to follow up your complaint, it will still go through the three stages. You can obtain their contact details from your local Council offices, or from Members Services Tel. No: 01546 604305 or from this web site.

Partner Organisation

If, when you register your complaint or through our investigation, it is apparent that the cause of dissatisfaction is with a partner organisation, we will return your correspondence and advise you to whom your complaint should be sent.

Statutory Complaints Procedures

Some complaints are covered by statutory procedures, different from those outlined above, and if they apply to your complaint we will let you know. Examples are detailed below:

EDUCATION: All complaints should, in the first instance, go to the head teacher or the officer in charge. Complaint forms are available in schools and from the Quality Standards Manager, Education Office, Argyll House, Alexandra Parade, Dunoon, PA23 8AJ, telephone 01369 708528.
SOCIAL WORK SERVICES: There are laws guiding complaints about Social Work Services. Service users with a complaint should in the first instance contact their local Area Service Manager or Resource Manager.
The Commissioning Manger is responsible for the monitoring of complaints and comments and on some occasions will investigate complaints. Contact: Commissioning Manager, Commissioning Team, Customer Services, Kilmory, Lochgilphead PA31 8RT. Tel No: 01546 604413
Email: commissioningteam@argyll-bute.gov.uk.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION, EIR and DP requests: If a member of the public wishes to make a complaint about the way in which a request for information in terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 or the Data Protection Act 1998 has been dealt with, they should write to the Executive Director of Customer Services, Kilmory, Lochgilphead (Tel. 01546 604272).

If they wish to proceed with a request a review they should write to the Executive Director of Customer Services, Kilmory, Lochgilphead (Tel. 01546 604272).

COMPLAINTS ABOUT CONDUCT OF A COUNCILLOR: Complaints about a Councillor are not dealt with by the Council and anyone making such a complaint should be directed to The Public Standards Commissioner for Scotland, 39 Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh EH3 7SW Tel: 0300 011 0550 or investigations@ethicalstandards.org.uk.

Unacceptable Behaviour by Complainants

People may act out of character in times of trouble or distress. There may have been upsetting or distressing circumstances leading up to a complaint. Staff should not view behaviour as unacceptable just because a complainant is forceful or determined.

However, the actions of complainants who are angry, demanding or persistent may result in unreasonable demands on Council staff or unacceptable behaviour towards them. It will be for the member of staff to determine when they consider the behaviour of a complainant to be unacceptable. They should confirm to the complainant that they are no longer prepared to deal with the matter and refer the complainant to an appropriate line manager. Staff should refer to the Council’s policy on Unacceptable Actions by Complainants.

Anonymous Complaints

These will not be dealt with under the Complaints Procedure. They will be treated as information only and dealt with as appropriate in each individual case.