Councils provide a variety of services to help people who experience hate crime, domestic abuse or problems with neighbours. This section gives some information about how to complain about councils when they get things wrong.

Every council provides different services but the following lists things you can reasonably expect from your local council

A good starting point is to talk with the manager of the person or team you are unhappy with. They might be able to solve the problem, explain something you didn’t understand or apologise without the hassle of making a written complaint.

Some complaints get resolved quickly but others drag on for a long time.

It is worth checking the council’s website for details about how they handle complaints and how long it should take them to respond.

The Local Government Ombudsman is an independent organisation which investigates complaints about councils.

Councils have lots of rules about things they can or can’t do and restrictions on how they should make decisions.

Your local politician may be able to help too.

The process of complaining can be draining, especially if it goes on for a long time.