Complaints

Children's social care

You can make a complaint if:

  • you're a user of the service, or you feel you have a right to a children's service
  • if you're a carer or a representative acting on the user’s behalf

You can do this in the first instance by emailing talktous@stockport.gov.uk or calling 0161 474 3898.

The Stockport children's social care complaints procedure (PDF 797Kb) explains how complaints about children’s social care are handled and resolved.

It's based on the statutory requirements set out in the Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006.

The complaints procedure is a 3 stage process:

Stage 1: Informal

Staff and managers involved in providing the service that you're unhappy with are responsible for resolving your complaint in the first instance. The Complaints Service will be able to help you with this stage.

Stage 2: Investigation

If you remain unhappy with the response you've received at Stage 1 you can request that your complaint is considered at Stage 2 of the process.

This means that an investigation will be undertaken without delay, by someone who has no involvement with the service you're complaining about.

You'll receive a response, usually within 25 working days, telling you what action has been/will be taken as a result of the investigation. If there are any delays in this process the Complaints Service will keep you informed.

Stage 3: Review panel

If you remain unhappy with the response at Stage 2 you'll be advised about this next stage.

You can ask the Complaints Service to refer any concerns you may have about the investigation or, the response you've received to a Complaints Review Panel. We'll write to you about the process.

If you remain unhappy following our complaints process, you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman.

Children's services

If your complaint is about a school, you must follow the school complaints procedure.

If your complaint does not fall under the children’s social care procedure or is about educational matters such as special educational needs and disabilities and school admissions, your complaint will be handled under our corporate complaints procedure.

To make a complaint about children’s services, you can:

In line with our Corporate Complaints Procedure (PDF 460Kb), children’s services must be given the opportunity to resolve the issue first. If you have not already reported the matter to the service, we'll work with you to try to resolve it informally first.

If the issue remains unresolved, you can make a formal complaint. There are 2 stages to the statutory complaints process, and most complaints are resolved at Stage 1.

Stage 1

When we've received your complaint, we’ll review it and send you an acknowledgement. A manager from the service will investigate it. We aim to send you a full response within 10 working days of our acknowledgement; however, we may need to get in touch with you if we need more information. If we cannot respond to you within 10 working days, we'll keep you up to date with how long it will take.

We'll then send you a decision letter. This will tell you about what we've found and what we've done to resolve your complaint.

Stage 2

If you're not happy with what we've done at Stage 1, you can progress your complaint to Stage 2.

Our Corporate Complaints Manager will deal with your Stage 2 complaint. They're not part of the service you're complaining to.

We aim to respond to you within 20 working days by sending you a decision letter. This will tell you about what we've found and what we've done to resolve your complaint.

Stage 2 complaints can take longer to investigate; however, we'll keep you up to date with how long it will take.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

If you're not happy with our investigation of your complaint, you can go to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. They're not part of the council.

You can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at any time; however, it will usually be referred to us if it has not already been through our complaints procedure.

You can send your complaint to:

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
PO Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 0EH

Phone: 0300 061 0614

For more information on how to make a complaint, visit the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman website.

Our complaints policy

Read our Corporate Complaints Procedure (PDF 460Kb) for more information about making a complaint.