Customer feedback policy

Overview

Cambridgeshire County Council’s vision is to create a greener, fairer, and more caring Cambridgeshire. This means that we strive to find sustainable solutions to the challenges faced by our residents through the provision of high-quality services and customer care.

A key determinant of how responsive we are as a council is ensuring we have a positive and effective approach to dealing with feedback. We are passionate about developing and improving the quality of services and welcome all feedback. We welcome you sharing your experiences of the Council, so we can learn from these and resolve concerns as quickly as possible.

This policy sets out the Council’s position on the management of non-statutory complaints, compliments, suggestions, and representations. This policy aims to ensure that all feedback is consistently and effectively processed, giving customers confidence in our approach.

We want to remove barriers for our customers when making contact with the Council, including if you are disabled, neurodivergent, or have a physical or mental health condition. To help, reasonable adjustments can be asked for at any time and requests are considered on a case-by-case basis. View our full reasonable adjustments for customers policy.

Exclusions to the policy

There are feedback types that are not covered by this policy. Exclusions include appeals, tribunals and statutory complaints for Adult Social Care and Children’s Social Care. For a full exclusion list and routes to follow, please visit our provide feedback page.

View Customer Feedback Policy (opens as PDF) for the full policy.

Providing feedback

Please visit our provide feedback page, which provides information on how you can submit your feedback.

What happens when we receive your feedback?

All feedback is recorded on our internal feedback system, and you will receive an automatic receipt upon completion of the online feedback form. Once we have received your comments, we will review them and determine if the feedback is a complaint, compliment, suggestion, or representation. We will also determine if your feedback is relevant to Cambridgeshire County Council or another organisation, advising you accordingly.

We will usually respond to you via email unless you notify us otherwise. If you write to us, we will respond to you in writing unless you request a different form of communication. We will do our best to respect the method of communication you have requested, and if we are unable to do this, we will tell you the reason.

Types of feedback and process steps

Please find information below detailing each type of feedback and the timeline of events you can expect when you provide a non-statutory complaint, compliment, suggestion, or representation.

Complaint

An expression of dissatisfaction, about the standard of service, actions, or lack of action by the organisation, its own officers, or those acting on its behalf that affect an individual or group of individuals of one or more members of the public.

Non-statutory complaints

All non-statutory complaints will be considered against the Customer Feedback Policy (opens as PDF). If the Council decides that this policy does not apply, you will be informed why this decision has been made. The non-statutory complaint process has two stages:

Stage one - frontline resolution

1. You will receive an automatic acknowledgement upon completion of the online feedback form.
2. Stage one complaints will be sent to an appropriate officer for review and investigation.
3. You will receive a personalised acknowledgement within 5 working days of submitting your stage one complaint.
4. You may be contacted to discuss details and review evidence.
5. We will respond to stage one complaints within 10 working days of you receiving your personalised acknowledgment, unless advised otherwise.
6. You will receive details of your complaint outcome and any remedies where applicable.
7. If you are unhappy with the outcome. You can escalate your complaint to stage two of the process. This is outlined below.

Stage two - review

1. Contact the officer who sent you the stage one complaint response within 20 working days of receiving the response.
2. The Stage two escalation request will be sent to a different and more senior officer to ensure impartiality for review and investigation.
3. You will receive a personalised acknowledgement within 5 working days of submitting your stage two request.
4. You may be contacted to discuss details and review evidence.
5. We will respond to stage two complaints within 20 working days of you receiving your personalised acknowledgment, unless advised otherwise.
6. You will receive details of your complaint outcome and any remedies where applicable.
7. Stage Two is the final stage of the Council’s Non-Statutory Complaints process, and you will be provided with the details of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). You are entitled to contact the LGSCO, within 12 months, if you remain dissatisfied.

Complaint flowchart

Open Customer Feedback Policy (opens as PDF) to view the full complaint flowchart.

Submit a complaint

To submit a complaint, please use our online feedback form.

Compliment

A compliment is a deliberate expression of satisfaction, thanks, praise, or congratulations received from an individual or party not directly employed or contracted by the authority.

1. You will receive an automatic acknowledgement upon completion of the online feedback form.
2. We will review your compliment submission.
3. We will share it with the service or individual officer it relates to.

Compliment flowchart

Open Customer Feedback Policy (opens as PDF) to view the full compliment flowchart.

Submit a compliment

To submit a compliment, please use our online feedback form.

Suggestion

A suggestion is an idea or plan put forward for consideration. It may relate to new services or improvements to existing services or functions.

1. You will receive an automatic acknowledgement upon completion of the online feedback form.
2. Suggestions will be sent to the relevant service or individual officer.
3. You will receive a personalised acknowledgement within 5 working days from when the officer receives the suggestion.
4. Suggestions received will be considered or in some circumstances we may take immediate action to improve a working practice, for example where a suggestion relates to equality and diversity or safeguarding.
5. If a response is requested, we aim to respond within 10 working days.

Suggestion flowchart

Open Customer Feedback Policy (opens as PDF) to view the full suggestion flowchart.

Submit a suggestion

To submit a suggestion, please use our online feedback form.

Representation

A representation is a comment or issue raised about council policy or procedure (rather than how we have applied a policy or procedure). A representation can also be made about allocation of resources or the nature or availability of services. We understand that the term ‘representation’ isn’t well known, so we will tell you if we think your comment or complaint, is a representation.

1. You will receive an automatic acknowledgement upon completion of the online feedback form.
2. You will receive a personalised acknowledgement within 5 working days from when the officer receives the representation.
3. All representations will be shared with the relevant Service Director for their review. Representations will be considered, and in consultation with an Executive Director, will be taken forward for elected member consideration where appropriate (and where they relate to policy or funding decisions and in-line with committee processes). The County Council’s elected members will have the final decision to approve any suggested changes to policies.
4. If a response is requested, we aim to respond within 10 working days of the final decision.

Representation flowchart

Open Customer Feedback Policy (opens as PDF) to view the full representation flowchart. 

To submit a representation, please use our online feedback form.

Policy review

This feedback policy will be reviewed annually in line with the Council’s policy framework and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s (LGSCO) Complaint Handling Code and associated guidance to ensure compliance with their best practice recommendations.

The LGSCO is independent of all government departments and provides a confidential service to investigate complaints about councils and other organisations providing local public services.

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