Complaints, Compliments and Suggestions Guidance
Who are Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS)?
Our Service was created on 1st June 2010 to deliver Environmental Health and Licensing local authority functions. We currently have the following six Partner Authorities:
- Bromsgrove District Council
- Redditch Borough Council
- Malvern Hills District Council
- Worcester City Council
- Wychavon District Council
- Wyre Forest District Council
The Service reports to a Joint Board comprising two elected members and one Officer from each of these authorities. We are not an outsourced organisation. We are employed by one of the Councils and act on behalf of all six. The Joint Board arrangement makes us part of ALL six councils.
In addition to the above, we also provide services to a number of other local authorities and organisations in the form of contractual or informal arrangements.
Let us know what you think
We want to hear from you if you’ve got a comment to make, whether it’s good or bad about any of our services. We also want to hear your suggestions about how we can improve Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS). By asking for your feedback, we can make changes if we need to and make sure your contact with WRS is a positive experience. Local government continues to work under significant financial pressures and, whilst we know we CANNOT always do what people want, we want to do the best we can with the funding that is available.
How can you get in touch?
Use the link to our online Complaints, Compliments and Suggestions form
Email: enquiries@worcsregservices.gov.uk
Phone: 01905-822799 for the WRS duty team
Write to: Worcestershire Regulatory Services, Wyre Forest House, Finepoint Way, Kidderminster, Worcestershire. DY11 7WF
In person: The majority of issues can initially be dealt with by telephone. If there is a need following this, officers will be more than happy to make an appointment to see you at your home or business.
Do you want to make a suggestion?
We welcome your feedback and encourage your comments or suggestions about our services. It may be that your suggestion helps to change the way a service is delivered.
Have we got it right?
If you think we’ve done something well, we’d love to hear from you. We want to receive your feedback and use it to help us make improvements to our services. We will pass on all compliments to the service or member of staff concerned.
Do you feel we have got it wrong?
We want to hear from you if you think we have:
- Done something wrong or badly
- Not done something we should have
- Treated you unfairly or unprofessionally
- Been too slow to act
What do we ask of you?
If you want to make a complaint or pay us a compliment please give us as much detail as possible about the service including dates, times and names of the people you dealt with if known.
If making a complaint, please also let us know what you would like us to do to put things right.
If you are making a complaint for someone else, you will need their permission first.
Please include your name, address and contact details as we cannot deal with any anonymous complaints.
What can you expect from us?
We want to settle all complaints quickly. If you have contacted us with a complaint, there are three stages to our process.
Stage One – quick resolution
Please make your complaint to the person dealing with the query or, if you are not happy to do this, through one of the routes outlined above. Many issues can be resolved with an explanation, action or apology. If you aren’t satisfied, you can ask for your complaint to be escalated to the second stage.
Stage Two – full investigation
We will acknowledge stage two complaints within 5 working days.
Your complaint will be dealt with by one of our Team Managers and reviewed by the Head of Regulatory Services, who will ensure the matter is fully investigated.
You will get a full reply within fifteen working days or an explanation of progress to date if there are exceptional reasons why we are unable to complete the investigation within that time.
If you are not happy with the result of the investigation, you can ask for your complaint to be progressed to the third stage.
Stage Three - review
If the complaint is escalated to Stage 3, it will be referred to the nominated officer of the Local Authority whom WRS are acting on behalf of in delivery of that service element to which you refer.
WRS will advise you of who this matter has been referred to and send you their contact details.
The relevant council will review the full details of your complaint and you will get a full response explaining the outcome within ten working days.
Every effort is made to keep within the above timescales but in the event of more complex enquiries, this might not be possible. If more time is needed before replying, you will be kept informed of the delay.
What isn’t a complaint?
This procedure is designed for you to provide a compliment, or to make a complaint about services you have received or activities undertaken by WRS.
There are some issues we will not be able to deal with under this process. WRS is not directly responsible for matters of policy that have been set by individual councils, for example, licensing policy. Complaints regarding such issues will be referred directly to that council for them to process. We will tell you if this is the case and provide you with details as to who the complaint has been referred to along with their contact details.
Complaints regarding the conduct of councillors should be referred to the relevant council’s Monitoring Officer, who will investigate allegations of misconduct. Further information can be found on the relevant council’s website.
Complaints about other people, for example regarding noise nuisance or a licenced taxi driver will be dealt with as requests for service. Where a complaint alleges criminal conduct that falls outside of the remit of the service, this will be referred to a more appropriate body ie. Police.
Employment issues will be dealt with in accordance with our Host Authority's Personnel Handbook. Complaints concerning members of staff alleging misconduct will be dealt with, where appropriate through our disciplinary procedure, the outcome of which will remain confidential.
Where a complaint is regarding the conduct of one of our many partner organisations, we will forward any complaints regarding our partners or their services to the appropriate manager.
The individual councils have a number of separate appeal or statutory procedures for some of the services it provides such as:
- Statutory notice decisions
- Decisions of licensing and appeals committees
This list is not exhaustive and if your complaint falls under one of these separate appeals processes, you will be given advice how to make your appeal.
Anonymous Complaints – We will treat all feedback confidentially. If complaints are received anonymously, we will not investigate them under this procedure.
Dealing with unreasonably persistent complainants
Complaints that are considered to be unreasonably vexatious or persistent complaints will be referred to the appropriate individual council who will deal with this under their own policies for dealing with vexatious complaints.
Still not satisfied following a complaint?
If you have followed this procedure but still think you’ve not been treated fairly, you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman. This service is not run by us and is free of charge. The Ombudsman is there to deal with the way in which a decision is made. They will look at whether we have treated you fairly and followed our own processes. They will not consider the merits of our decision. The Ombudsman will only deal with complaints once the system within the local authority is exhausted, so Stage 3 as described in this policy. You can contact them
at:
Local Government Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH
0845 602 1983 or 024 7682 1960