Resolving a problem
If you haven't contacted the council yet, the quickest ways to resolve a problem are to:
- visit the service’s webpages to find what you need
- report a problem you’d like us to fix
- report anti-social behaviour
- phone customer services.
We’ll aim to deal with your issue within a few days.
Make a formal complaint
If you’ve contacted the council about an issue and you aren't happy with the way it was handled, you can make a formal complaint.
How we will handle your complaint
When you make a formal complaint, we will send you an acknowledgement within five working days.
We will investigate your complaint and you will receive a response within 10 working days from our acknowledgment.
If you are still unhappy, our corporate complaints team will carry out an independent review of your complaint. You may be asked for more information. We will respond to you within 20 working days from our acknowledgment.
We record information and use the feedback to help improve our services.
View the complaints policy and process.
Make a complaint
There are different complaints processes for different services. Use these forms to make a complaint about:
For complaints about councillors, visit the democracy website.
If you need any support completing these form, call us on 020 7527 2000. Lines are open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am to 5pm and Wednesdays from 10am to 5pm.
Complaints about schools
Schools have their own complaints procedures. If you have a complaint about a school or a member of school staff, a copy of their complaint’s procedures will be on the school website. Who to contact in the event of the complaint will be specified within the policy and may be the Headteacher or a Deputy Headteacher dependent on the size of the school. If you are not satisfied following their formal stage 1 response, there will be details of who to escalate the complaint to which will include the Governing Body. The school policy will explain the procedure to you.
Taking your complaint further
If you are still not satisfied with our response, you can contact an ombudsman who investigates complaints about local councils. These services are independent, impartial and free.
The ombudsman will usually only consider your complaint after you have completed all stages of our complaints process and have given us the opportunity to resolve matters for you.
- If you are a council tenant with a complaint about housing, visit the Housing Ombudsman Service website.
- For complaints about a building safety risk, contact the Building Safety Regulator.
- For complaints about other council matters, visit the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman website.