Now it’s easier to complain
Friday, December 1 2006
Strange as it may seem, Scottish Borders Council (SBC) welcomes complaints because they provide valuable information to help improve services.
As part of its Customer First programme, SBC has recently carried out a review of its complaints procedure.
The new procedure "How to make a complaint" simplifies the process and provides better information on the number of complaints received. Members of the public can now make a complaint by visiting their local office or telephoning the service concerned; speaking to their local councillor; writing directly to the service concerned; using the pre paid tear off slip attached to the complaints leaflet or logging on to www.scotborders.gov.uk/complaints Complaints will be acknowledged within five working days and given a complaint reference number.
The Council will respond in full to complaints within 20 working days, and where this is not possible, will give reasons why. If a person disagrees with the response, the complaint can be passed to the relevant director and the Chief Executive. The complaint can ultimately be raised with the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman.
A new leaflet has been produced to explain the process and the areas that are covered, and is available at Contact centres, libraries and on the Council website.
Chief Executive, David Hume, said "This new and improved system will ensure that we have a method in place for dealing with complaints as soon as they are raised. These complaints will be logged, monitored, tracked and addressed to ensure that complainants receive a satisfactory outcome. We will use the information gathered to improve our services. We hope that this new system proves to be useful to both the public and employees."
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