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Still unresolved

If you have been through all stages of our complaints procedure and are still unhappy, you can ask the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or Housing Ombudsman to review your complaint.

The Ombudsman expects you to have given us chance to deal with your complaint before you contact them.

If you have not heard from us within a reasonable time, it may decide to look into your complaint anyway. This is usually up to 12 weeks but can be longer for social care complaints that follow a statutory process.

About the Ombudsman

The Ombudsman is the final stage and they look at individual complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing local public services.

They are a free service and investigate complaints in a fair and independent way - they do not take sides.

How they deal with your complaint

  • They will take a first look at your complaint and advise on the next steps
  • They will then assess whether they can and should investigate
  • If they investigate, they may ask you and us for more information
  • They publish their final decisions on their website (they do not use real names)

If the complaint is regarding Local Authority housing, this in most cases will be dealt with by the Housing Ombudsman and not the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. However your formal response letter at stage two of the complaints process will direct you to the appropriate Ombudsman for the type of complaint being addressed.

More information about making a complaint can be found on the LGO website or the Housing Ombudsman website.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman contact details

Website: www.lgo.org.uk

Online via their complaint form

Telephone: 0300 061 0614

Text 'call back' to 0762 481 1595

Lines are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 8:30am to 5pm and Wednesday 8.30am - 12noon

Housing Ombudsman

Website: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk

Online via their complaint form

Telephone: 0300 111 3000

Lines are open Monday to Friday from 9.15am to 5.15pm (except public holidays)