Corporate Complaints Policy
Decision Maker: Corporate Policy Committee
Decision status: Recommendations Approved (subject to call-in)
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
Purpose:
This document details Cheshire East
Council’s policy on dealing with compliments,
suggestions and complaints received from our customers.
The Council is committed to providing consistently high-quality
services, but we
acknowledge that sometimes things do go wrong. We welcome feedback
from our
customers and we recognise that compliments, suggestions and
complaints are a
valuable source of information to help us:
•?improve the standard of services we deliver
•?put things right when they have gone wrong
•?learn from our mistakes and make sure they do not happen
again.
The aim of this policy is to provide a fair, consistent and
structured process for
members of staff to follow when customers are providing feedback.
We will ensure
staff understand their responsibilities under this policy, so they
can deal with
feedback effectively, and lessons learned from complaint
investigations will be used
to inform service improvements.
Decisions:
The Committee considered the report on the updated Corporate Complaints Policy, which has been revised to align with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code and best practice standards.
Members noted that the updated policy aimed to provide greater clarity for residents, improve accessibility, and ensure a consistent approach to complaint resolution across all services. Key changes included clearer definitions of complaints, streamlined processes for escalation, and enhanced monitoring and reporting arrangements to support learning and service improvement.
It was highlighted that the address for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) would need updating following their move from Wilmslow to Manchester. Officers agreed to amend this before publication of the new policy.
The committee noted the revised policy still reflected the 2-stage process, however included extended timeframes for acknowledging complaints from 3 working days to 5 working days. The complaint investigation Service Level Agreement (SLA) would commence from the date of acknowledgment as opposed to the date the complaint was received. This update would provide the Customer Feedback Team more time to acknowledge the complaint and ensure that Council services were able to utilise the full 10 working day SLA to investigate and respond to the complaint providing better investigations and responses for complainants. The Committee noted that acknowledgements to complainants would include updated timescales. It was agreed that the updated timescales would be shared with all Elected Members once live.
RESOLVED (unanimously):
That the Corporate Policy Committee
- Approve the new Corporate Complaints Policy.
- Note the LGSCO’s Complaint Handling Code.
- Agree standardising acknowledgement and response times for formal correspondence in line with complaints and the LGSCO’s code.
Report author: Alan Ward
Publication date: 01/12/2025
Date of decision: 27/11/2025
Decided at meeting: 27/11/2025 - Corporate Policy Committee
Accompanying Documents:
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