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Complaints - procedureNorth Yorkshire County Council is committed to providing a high standard of service to all of its customers - we always try to do the best we can with the resources we have available, but sometimes we make mistakes. However, we aim to learn from those mistakes and the complaints procedure is seen as a very important part of our continuous improvement programme. An improved corporate complaints system (not including social care complaints) was introduced in May 2007 and has three stages.
Stage 1We will try to deal with your complaint informally. This means that you should phone, write, or take your complaint to the office or person who dealt with your enquiry. Our staff will do their best to resolve your complaint without you needing to do anything else. Stage 2If you have contacted the relevant officer about your complaint but they have not been able to put things right, or you are not happy with the way they handled your complaint, the next step is for you to contact the complaints coordinator for the directorate responsible for that service. The directorate complaints coordinator will write to you within five working days to let you know we have received your complaint and tell you what will happen next. Stage 3If you have been through stages 1 and 2 and are not happy with the way your complaint was dealt with, you can ask the County Council's chief executive to review the investigation. (If your complaint is about services in the chief executive's department, it will be reviewed by another senior member of staff). Our corporate complaints coordinator will write to you within five working days to let you know we are reviewing your complaint. You will receive a full written reply within 20 working days. If this is not possible we will inform you within 20 working days and give you an indication of when a full reply will be sent. Our complaints procedure is not a review or appeal procedure for you to challenge the merits of those decisions. Neither is it a way to ask for a review of a decision which goes against you following other proper procedures, such as a school admission appeal. Stage 4If you are still unhappy with the way your complaint was dealt with, or feel you were treated unfairly, you can contact the local government Ombudsman at Telephone: 0300 061 0614 The Ombudsman can only investigate your complaint if you believe that you have been caused injustice as a result of something the Council has or has not done (maladministration). The Ombudsman will expect you to have taken your complaint through the County Council's own procedures first. You can get a leaflet about the Ombudsman service from any of the nominated officers. You can contact the Ombudsman's advice line on 0300 061 0614 or visit the website www.lgo.org.uk Fraud investigationNorth Yorkshire County Council considers any allegations of fraud or loss to be very serious and will investigate them as a matter of urgency. All the information you provide will be given in the strictest confidence. You do not have to give us your name and address or telephone number, but you can if you wish, as it would be useful for any investigating officer to discuss your concerns. To raise any concerns you may have, please contact the internal audit service using the details at the foot of this page. Compliments, complaints, comments and concerns in adult social careHelp us get it right. Please tell us your views about adult social care services provided by North Yorkshire County Council. Your comments can help us to improve our services and plan for the future. To provide compliments or comments about adult social care or to raise a concern or complaint, see the Compliments, complaints, comments and concerns (adult social care) page.
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