The Black Sluice IDB has a procedure for dealing with complaints from members of the public and others. Despite our best endeavours, we recognise that things may not always meet your expectations. We follow a standard procedure to ensure that we investigate your complaint fully and fairly, and which enables complaints to be dealt with in a consistent way. We want to hear from you if you are unhappy with our services and want to make a complaint.
What is a Complaint?
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, action or lack of action made by the Board or its staff, contractors etc, affecting an individual member of the public, other group or organisation.
The Steps to Follow
Step 1. Some complaints/concerns can be dealt with immediately, and we would like to put things right straight away if possible, rather than involve you in filling out a form and waiting for a response. So your first step if you are not happy with the way we have dealt with you is to go back to the person in the Board who handled the matter in the first place. All complaints/concerns are to be recorded and monitored by senior management.
Step 2. If your complaint/concern is not dealt with to you your satisfaction at step one then please contact the office by phone (01205 821440) or email (mailbox@blacksluiceidb.gov.uk) for the attention of a Director.
Step 3. If you are still not satisfied with the way your complaint has been dealt with, then we will adopt a formal procedure in order to investigate it further. Please fill in the attached form setting out what went wrong and what you think the Board should do to put things right. Please provide as much information about your complaint as possible and include details of previous correspondence etc.
Step 4. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days in writing or by phone to confirm that we have understood your concerns correctly. The complaint will be investigated by the Board’s Chief Executive.
Step 5. We will investigate your complaint, and where possible, send a written reply to you within 15 working days of our acknowledgement. If the matter requires further investigation, we will tell you the reason for the delay and when a full reply will be sent.
Step 6. If you are not satisfied with our reply, please let us know why. If possible, we will investigate further and if then your concerns are still unresolved, the matter will be discussed at a full Board Meeting. We will keep you informed of progress and provide a further reply following the next Board meeting. If you remain unsatisfied with the way we have dealt with your complaint you may refer it to the Local Government Ombudsman, who works independently to the Board, investigating allegations of maladministration causing injustice to the person who has complained. However, the Ombudsman will usually expect you to have tried to get your complaint settled by the Board first. Any complaint to the Ombudsman must involve more than a disagreement with the Board and needs to show that something went wrong and an injustice was caused.
For example it might be maladministration if the Board:-
• made a mistake;
• took too long to do something;
• did not follow its own rules or the law;
• broke its promises;
• treated you unfairly;
• gave you wrong information; or
• did not make a decision in the right way – that is, if it:- did not follow the right procedures when making the decision; did not consider all the relevant information; or wrongly considered irrelevant information.
You might have been caused an injustice by the Board’s maladministration if, for
example, you:-
• did not get the service or benefit you were entitled to or there was a delay before you got it;
• suffered financial loss; or
• were put to a lot of avoidable expense, trouble or inconvenience, or suffered avoidable uncertainty or stress.
The Local Government Ombudsman might not investigate your complaint if they consider that the injustice is only slight, or if the Board has already taken, or is willing to take, satisfactory action to resolve it.
The Local Government Ombudsman has information on their website at www.lgo.org.uk including a section in relation to how make a complaint, https://www.lgo.org.uk/how-to-complain.
Why we want to hear from you
Although we want to hear from you if you feel you need to complain, we like to hear any comments you have about our overall service performance. We want to provide the best possible service, and your comments will help us to know what we are doing well, and also what we need to improve on.
Contact Details: -
Chief Executive
Station Road, Swineshead, Boston, Lincs, PE20 3PW
mailbox@blacksluiceidb.gov.uk
Tel: 01205 821440
To Download the Board's Complaints form please click here.
