Reed Village
The website of Reed Parish Council
Reed Parish Council
Complaints Procedure
Reviewed March 2023
Reed Parish Council is committed to providing a quality service for the benefit of
the people who live or work in its area or are visitors to the locality. If you are
dissatisfied with the standard of service you have received from this council, or
are unhappy about an action or lack of action by this council, this Complaints
Procedure sets out how you may complain to the council and how we shall try to
resolve your complaint.
This Complaints Procedure applies to complaints about council administration
and procedures and may include complaints about how council employees have
dealt with your concerns.
This Complaints Procedure does not apply to:
•
complaints by one council employee against another council employee, or
between a council employee and the council as employer. These matters
are dealt with under the council’s disciplinary and grievance procedures.
•
complaints against councillors. Complaints against councillors are covered
by the Code of Conduct for Members and, if a complaint against a
councillor is received by the council, it will be referred to the Standards
Committee of North Herts District Council. Further information on the
process of dealing with complaints against councillors may be obtained
from the Monitoring Officer of North Herts District Council.
The appropriate time for influencing Council decision-making is by raising your
concerns before the Council debates and votes on a matter. You may do this by
writing to Reed Parish Council in advance of the meeting at which the item is to
be discussed. There is an opportunity to raise your concerns in the public
participation section of Council meetings. If you are unhappy with a Council
decision, you may raise your concerns with the Council, but Standing Orders
prevent the Council from re-opening issues for six months from the date of the
decision, unless there are exceptional grounds to consider this necessary and
the special process set out in the Standing Orders is followed.
You may make your complaint about the council’s procedures or administration
to the Parish Clerk. You may do this in person, by phone, or by writing to or
emailing the Clerk. The addresses and numbers are set out above.
Wherever possible, the Clerk will try to resolve your complaint immediately. If
this is not possible, the Clerk will normally try to acknowledge your complaint
within five working days.
If you do not wish to report your complaint to the Clerk, you may make your
complaint directly to the Chairman of the Council, contact details on
reedparishcouncil.co.uk, who will report your complaint to the Staffing
Committee of the Council.
The Clerk will investigate each complaint, obtaining further information as
necessary from you and/or members of the Council.
The Clerk or the Chairman of the Council will notify you within 20 working days
of the outcome of your complaint and of what action (if any) the Council
proposes to take as a result of your complaint. (In exceptional cases the twenty
working days timescale may have to be extended. If it is, you will be kept
informed.)
If you are dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you may ask for your
complaint to be referred to the full Council and within eight weeks you will be
notified in writing of the outcome of the review of your original complaint.