Complaints and comments about a CYPS service

An effective complaints procedure ensures that the voices of children and young people are heard and that as a result, service delivery will improve.

Sometimes we make mistakes, so if you are not happy with a service you have received from us, we want to know. We will look into your complaint, let you know the outcome and take steps to put matters right as soon as we can.

We also want to hear from you if you have any comments about our services or would like to compliment us on the way we have done something.

We will ensure that your feedback is passed on to relevant staff and used when we plan other services.

Social care services

There is a statutory procedure for managing feedback about social care services. This mainly relates to functions provided under the Children Act for children in care and children in need. A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction or disquiet in relation to an individual child or young person, which requires a response. Service users and their carers may also have enquiries, make positive remarks or have service delivery improvement suggestions to give to us. Please note that complaints cannot be considered where issues are the subject of court proceedings.

In the first instance, please contact the staff involved in delivering the service. Many issues can be quickly sorted out without needing to be taken through the complaints procedure, which is much better for all concerned, especially children. If this is unsuccessful for you, contact the CYPS Complaints team, giving as much detail as possible about the nature of your concerns, names of staff involved and names and dates of birth of any children in receipt of social care services. There are various ways to do this and the contact information can be found on the right.

Stage 1 – Local resolution

We will ask the manager responsible for the service to investigate your complaint, query or suggestion and send a written reply to you within 10-20 working days. If you are unhappy with the response, you can contact us again, asking for a formal investigation, explaining clearly why you disagree with the outcome.

Stage 2 – Formal investigation

We will arrange an independent investigation of the complaint and write to you again within 25-65 working days. If you are still unhappy with the response, you can contact us again, explaining why you disagree with the outcome and asking for your complaint to be considered by the Complaints Review Panel.

Stage 3 – Complaints Review Panel

This panel of 3 independent people will consider whether CYPS has adequately dealt with the complaint and make appropriate recommendations.

If you remain unhappy with the outcome of your complaint, you can write to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Support

If you are a child or young person in receipt of social care services, Reconstruct advocacy services may be able to support you to make a complaint.  If you are an adult complaining on behalf of a child, please contact us if you would like help to make your complaint from an advocate, independent of the local authority – we may be able to arrange this for you.

Please let us know if you need an interpreter or information in another language or format.

Other CYPS services

If you wish to give feedback about other CYPS services (eg school transport, school admissions, Special Educational Needs) which are not covered by the processes for social care and schools, you can use the Council’s corporate procedure, called Fair Comment. Contact information is given on the right of this page.