At Sefton Council we want to give you the best possible service we can. We welcome your feedback on our services, as it gives us the opportunity to see where we can make improvements. However, if you have an issue with a service you can:
- Report a missed bin collection
- Request a bulky item collection
- Report a street sweeping complaint or if a litter bin is full or damaged
- Report dog fouling
- Report a broken street light
- Have your say on a consultation
- Make a planning enforcement complaint
Please ensure that you have exhausted all department service escalation processes before submitting a formal complaint. If you have never contacted Sefton Council previously about your complaint it will be treated as a service request and the complaint will be closed. You must give the service area time to rectify the issue before a formal complaint can be investigated.
We recognise that deciding on whether an issue should or should not be treated as a complaint can be confusing. There are however, some key points that should help in determining whether your issue should be dealt with as a complaint or as a service request.
A straightforward way to decide whether the issues being raised should be treated as a complaint is to read the following scenarios:
- The council has done something which you consider the council should not have done - For example: "I want to complain because you sent the bailiffs to my home to collect unpaid Council Tax but I don't owe you anything."
- The council has failed to do something that it should have done - For example: "I want to complain because I took time off work to meet the building control inspector but he failed to turn up," or "I have written to you 5 times for an application form and you still have not sent me one."
- The quality of the service provided by the council is not good enough - For example: "I want to complain because the information on your website about applying for parking permit is incorrect."
If any of these scenarios fit your request, then your issue is likely to be best dealt with under the complaints procedure.
When making your complaint you need to:
- provide your current contact details and the names, addresses or department of anyone else involved in the complaint
- say if you are complaining on behalf of someone else - we will need evidence from them that they have agreed to this
- clearly list the main things you are concerned about, what you think we've done wrong, how it has affected you and what you want us to do to put things right
- tell us what happened and when
- provide any correspondence that is relevant to your complaint
- include the names of the officers who are dealing with you, if known
- Include any relevant reference numbers - for example, the reference number of your housing benefit claim.
The complaints process does not include issues where there is a right of appeal (such as refusal of planning permission, tripping claim, issue of a Penalty Charge Notice, blue badge, housing or council tax benefit appeals).