Making a complaint

You can make a complaint by visiting our have your say online form.

If you would prefer to do this in writing, you can download and print off a copy of the form:

Have your say form [250KB]

Completed forms should be sent to Customer Services, Plymouth City Council, Plymouth PL1 2AA and we will contact you within 3 working days.

A supervisor, or team leader, will usually look at first time complaints and investigate the cause and formulate solutions.

We will send you a full response within 10 working days explaining our solution or recommendation. Sometimes more complex complaints may take longer but we will keep you informed of progress.

Some types of complaint have to be dealt with under a different legal process. In this case we will pass your complaint on to the correct person and let you know. If your complaint is about a councillor you will need to read our How to complain about a councillor page. The process for this sort of complaint is slightly different.

What if I don’t feel my complaint has been dealt with properly?

You can ask us to reconsider our decision. A senior manager or a head of service will look at your complaint and may change the decision. If the decision stays the same we will explain why.

We will acknowledge your complaint and then send a full response within 25 working days of you asking us to reconsider. If it is going to take longer we will let you know.

What if I’m still not happy?

We hope your complaint is resolved before this stage is reached, but if you are unhappy with our response you can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman is an independent organisation which investigates complaints about councils.

Please view the Local Government Ombudsman website for more information or ask at any of the council’s enquiry desks for a leaflet.

If your complaint is about a Freedom of Information request you can complain to the Information Commissioner.

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