Feedback and complaints

As a Local Authority we do our best to provide our residents with great services, but there is always room for improvement. We value our residents’ comments and suggestions to help us provide better services for our community.

As a Local Authority you can also tell us if we are doing something well, it’s good to hear when a service has been received has meet or exceeded expectations. 

Report an issue for the first time

If you are reporting something for the first time, we need an opportunity to resolve it before you submit a complaint. Rather than making a complaint that can take time to progress, you can report a problem. By reporting a problem, we can begin resolving the issue immediately. You can use a report a problem to report issues such as :

• Missed refuse collection
• Road and pavement problems
• Illegal front garden parking
• And lots more as well...

Report It 

Complaints

If you have a complaint, let us know and we will do our best to resolve the issue. We want to learn from our mistakes and so we can prevent similar problems in the future.

This page is for general complaints about Council services. There are separate processes for:

Adult Social Care Complaints

Childrens Social Care Complaints

Complain about a School 

Challenge a Penalty Charge Notice 

Appeal or Revise a Planning Application 

Dispute a Housing Benefit Decision

Complaints about Councillors

How to make a general complaint

Complain Online

Telephone 0208 215 3000

Email complaints@lbbd.gov.uk

Please see our complaints policy for further information. 

Information you need to provide

We’d like to know:

• what service are you complaining about
• what you think the Council did wrong
• what you think the Council should do to put things right
• the date the problem you’re complaining about occurred or you became aware of it

Help us to help you by providing any relevant dates, names of staff and copies of relevant letters or other documents to support your complaint.

Please note that we can’t usually look at a complaint if you have left it for an unreasonable amount of time. This can vary depending on the matter, but is likely to be in the region of 6 months since knowing about the problem.

We prioritise a respectful and secure environment for residents and staff

Our updated policy states zero tolerance towards work-related violence and aggression, focusing on persistent, vexatious, and unreasonable behaviour in complaints and information requests, focusing on:

• Strictly prohibiting abusive communications, emphasising professionalism and courtesy.
• Quickly addressing misconduct like misuse of channels or staff mistreatment. 
• Promptly responding to threatening behaviours to protect staff, potentially involving legal measures.

Our aim is to make sure staff are safe when delivering a complaints service efficiently without compromising openness to constructive feedback.

Persistent, Vexatious & Unreasonable Behaviour Complainants Policy (PDF, 345.79 KB)

Complaints procedure

How your complaint will be handled – Stage 1

When you raise an issue, we’ll check to see if we can handle it as a complaint. We will let you know if there is a different process for dealing with the matter.

If you are submitting a complaint on behalf of another person, you will need to provide signed written consent from the person you are representing before we can take action.

We aim to respond to this stage within 10 working days however in some cases, it may take longer to respond but our aim is to keep you updated.

A senior officer from the service you are complaining about will oversee an investigation which will focus on resolving the issues you have raised.

We’ll contact you to inform you of the outcome of the investigation and the action taken to resolve your complaint.

What happens if you aren’t satisfied with the response – Stage 2

If you’re not satisfied with the response you received at stage 1, you can ask for your complaint to be escalated. Requests for review should be made within 28 days from the initial stage 1 response provided.

Within 5 working days we will provide an acknowledgement and the date by which you should receive a formal reply, which should be within 20 working days. If we cannot meet this target you will be provided a progress report.

What happens if you aren’t satisfied with the response at the review stage

If you’re still not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you can ask either The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) or, if the complaint relates to tenant/landlord functions, the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS), to investigate your complaint. You will usually need to have completed both stages of our complaints process before the Ombudsman can help.  

Say thank you or give a compliment

We are always happy to hear that our staff are doing a good job. We make sure they know when someone is pleased, as this makes their hard work worthwhile. We welcome your feedback including thank-yous and compliments on our services.

Say thank you

Further Information

The Borough Manifesto sets out our long-term vision for Barking and Dagenham One Borough, One Community. No-one left behind.

The Corporate Plan and Performance Framework outlines the actions we will take to make progress to achieving targets in the Borough Manifesto             

LGSCO Council Performance Data provides insight into the performance of London Borough of Barking and Dagenham dealing with LGSCO complaints.

Housing Ombudsman Report will provide information relating to the latest reports which have been published by the Housing Ombudsman including Spotlight Reports and Complaint Handling Failure Orders.

The Housing Ombudsman introduced in July 2020 a Complaint Handling Code which set out good practice that allows landlords to respond to complaints effectively and fairly. With this being strengthened in April 2024 jointly with the LGSCO. As part of this code Landlords are asked on an annual basis to review their services according to the code and to publish the outcomes. The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham have undertaken this review and have published the results.

For our annual complaints report 2023, you can visit the moderngov website and there is a recorded link to the meeting for viewing.

Resident's Satisfaction Form

Please complete this form to tell us how satisfied you are with our Complaints process