Stage 2
You may request for your complaint to be considered at Stage 2 if all or part of the complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction. We expect that you will raise a stage 2 complaint within 20 working days of receiving the outcome of your Stage One investigation. There may be circumstances when this timescale could be extended, in this event it will be discussed with the complainant.
An acknowledgment of your request for Stage 2 will be sent within 5 working days of the request being received. The acknowledgement will provide a summary of the Council’s understanding of any outstanding issues and the outcomes that you are seeking along with an expected response date. If your complaint is not appropriate for review at Stage 2, you will be informed of the reasons why and your options for next steps.
A review of your complaint will be undertaken by an appropriate officer of the Council, but this will not be the same person who considered your complaint at Stage 1. We will issue a response within 20 working days of the complaint being acknowledged.
Stage 2 will involve a review of the response which was provided at Stage 1 to ensure that the response was accurate, thoroughly investigated and opportunities to resolve the matter have been adequately considered. Should the timescale need extending due to the complexity of the case, or for another reason, the Council will inform you of the expected timescale of the response. Any extension will be no more than 20 working days without good reason, and the reason(s) for the extension will be clearly explained to you.
The Stage 2 response will be the Council’s final response to your complaint and will confirm the following in writing to the complainant:
- the complaint stage;
- the Council’s understanding of the complaint;
- the decision on the complaint;
- the reasons for any decisions made;
- the details of any remedy offered to put things right;
- details of any outstanding actions; and
- details of how to escalate the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if the complainant remains dissatisfied.