All complaints received about the standards of service provided by the Council (except those involving Social Care Services ) will be considered under the Corporate Concerns and Complaints Policy and will follow the two-stage process:
Customers may submit their comments, compliments or complaints in Welsh or English, in accordance with their language preference.
Stage 1: Informal Resolution
If you have a concern, please raise it with the person you're dealing with in the first instance. He or she will try to resolve it for you there and then and you should receive a response to your complaint within 10 working days. If there are any lessons to be learned from having received your complaint, then these will be escalated by the member of staff. There are some occasions where we believe it would be more appropriate to deal with your complaint on a formal basis, we will discuss such a decision with you at the time.
Stage 2: Formal Investigation
If it has not been possible to resolve your concerns at Stage 1 then you may be able to request a formal investigation of your case. You will need to submit this directly to the Complaints Team as soon as possible (usually within 20 working days of receiving your Stage 1 response) and state the specific reasons why you do not believe your complaint has been addressed at Stage 1.
We will acknowledge your request for your complaint to be addressed under Stage 2 within 5 working days and attempt to investigate and respond to matters within 20 working days. It is important to note however that it may take longer to undertake our investigations of your complaint but if this is the case, we will keep you informed accordingly.
More information can be found in our Corporate Concerns and Complaints Procedure Booklet.
Please note that we will not usually consider complaints about things which occurred, or matters you became aware of, more than six months ago. If you are complaining about something that happened more than six months ago, please make sure you state why you have not notified us of your complaint sooner so that we can take this into consideration. We will write to you explaining our decision to either investigate, or our refusal to investigate, your complaint as soon as possible.
Please complete the online form below if you wish to register your complaint:
If you require more information regarding the complaints procedure, please contact:
The Complaints and Freedom of Information Team
Canolfan Rheidol
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion, SY23 3UE
Telephone: 01545 574151
E-mail: complaints@ceredigion.gov.uk
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
If you are not satisfied with the way your complaint has been handled or if you believe the Council has not fully addressed the issues you have raised, you may wish to refer matters to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
The Ombudsman will usually expect you to bring your concerns to our attention in the first instance; however he does have discretionary powers to consider and accept your complaint for immediate investigation if he believes the circumstances warrant it.
If you wish to make a complaint to the Ombudsman or if you are unhappy with the way the Council has managed your complaint, please write to:
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
1 Ffordd yr Hen Gae
Pencoed
Bridgend CF35 5LJ
Telephone: 0300 790 0203 (local call rate)
E-mail: ask@ombudsman.wales
Website: www.ombudsman.wales