EAST BERGHOLT PARISH COUNCIL
Complaints Policy and Procedure

East Bergholt Parish Council is committed to providing a quality service for the
benefit of the people who live or work in its area or are visitors to the locality. If you
are dissatisfied with the standard of service you have received from this council or
are unhappy about an action or lack of action by this council, this Policy sets out how
you may complain to the council and how we shall try to resolve your complaint.
It is generally in the interests of the complainant and the council to try to resolve the
matter informally through normal channels of communication, rather than deferring to
the formal complaint’s procedure, wherever possible.
When a complaint is made, member(s) of the council or staff are likely to be
mentioned or complained about. However, a complaint against the council will be
treated as a complaint against the body corporate of the council, not as a complaint
against individual employees or member(s) of the council.
A complaint against about the conduct of employees must be handled in accordance
with the complaints procedure, if, following the outcome of the complaint, the council
decides there may be a need to take disciplinary action, this will be in accordance
with the disciplinary and grievance policy.
Definition of a complaint
The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) defines a complaint as. ‘A
Complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction… about the Councils’ action or lack of
action about the standard of a service, whether the action was taken, or the service
was provided by the Council itself or a person or body acting on behalf of the
Council.’
A complaint against a Council may arise for the reasons given above or it may also
be triggered by an allegation of administrative fault such as not following procedures
or standing orders, inadequate service, no service, delay or making a mistake
Complaints Officer
The complaints officer for East Bergholt Parish Council is the Clerk. You should
make your complaint about the council’s procedures or administration to the Clerk.
All complaints must be made in writing to or emailing the Clerk.
Email: parish.clerk@eastbergholtpc.co.uk

Graham White
Parish Clerk
East Bergholt Parish Council
Units 4CD
The Gattinetts
Hadleigh Road
East Bergholt
CO7 6QT
If your complaint is about the Clerk, you may make your complaint directly to the
Chair of the Council who will then act as the Complaint Officer.
When the complaints procedure will not be appropriate
Alleged financial irregularity
Local electors have a statutory right to object to the Council’s audit of accounts (s.16
Audit Commission Act 1998) Any person interested has the right to inspect and make
copies of the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates and
the documents relating to the records must be made available for inspection during
the 30-day inspection period required by the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014
s26 & 27 and the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (SI2015/234).
Alleged criminal activity
Any such alleged matters must be referred to the police.
Members’ conduct alleged to breach the Code of Conduct adopted by the
Council
The Monitoring Officer of Babergh District Council is responsible for handling
complaints that relate to a member’s failure to comply with the council’s code of
conduct. Statutory requirements or litigation may run in parallel or be used as an
alternative to dealing with complaints, whether they are raised through the usual
channels of communication or more formally.
This may include a complaint to the Information Commissioner if a complainant is
unhappy with the response to a request for information. Members are free to raise
matters of concern in respect of council business by the submission of a motion(s)
on the agenda for relevant meetings where the matter can be formally considered
and resolved. Alternatively, if a member has concerns about the conduct of a
member of staff, the Chair of the Council should be notified.
The Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee will decide whether the concerns raised
require disciplinary issues to be dealt with in accordance with the council’s
disciplinary and grievance policy.

If a member of staff has a complaint about the workplace or a councillor, this should
be raised in accordance with the council’s disciplinary and grievance policy.
Complaints Procedures
East Bergholt Parish Council requires that formal complaints are submitted in writing.
As a minimum the complainant should provide the following information.
• Detail of the complaint, including relevant events
• Dates
• Relevant members, staff, or contractors of the council
• Contact details
The council may choose to process the complaint exclusively through written
communications, or it may offer the complainant the opportunity to make verbal
representation, although this may lengthen the period for dealing with the complaint.
The complainant will be asked at the outset to confirm if the complaint is to be
treated confidentially. The council must at all times comply with its obligations under
the Data Protection Act 1998 to safeguard against the unlawful disclosure of
personal data.
A complaint against the council must be properly investigated and the council will
need to set aside time to the investigate the complaint and to gather evidence.
Stages of the Procedure
The LGO recommends that any complaints should consist of at least two stages,
which permits the complainant to appeal the outcome of the complaint. Staff or
members involved in stage one of the complaint will not be involved in any stage two
hearing.
First Stage – Receipt of formal complaint
A resident may wish to make a formal complaint directly or may be unsatisfied with
the response to an informal complaint and wish to take the matter further.
The Clerk will be responsible for the handling of the complaint. Acknowledgement of
the complaint will be responded to as soon as possible after receipt, this will usually
be within 5 days. The acknowledgement will advise when the complaint will be
responded to and whether the complaint is to be dealt with confidentially.
The Clerk will explain the next steps in the complaint’s procedure. The Clerk may
offer to invite the complainant to attend a meeting to discuss the issue. The
complainant may bring a friend or associate to the meeting if they so wish. The
response will be provided in writing and will normally be responded to within 20
working days of receipt of the complaint.

Any amendment to this will be provided to the complainant in writing. Additional
evidence or new information may be provided within the 20-working day period
during which the matter is under investigation.
As part of the response, the complainant will be advised that if they are unsatisfied
with the outcome of their complaint, they will have the right to take the matter further.
Second Stage – Review of complaint
On receipt of a request for further review of the complaint, the request will be
forwarded to the Chair of the Council, who will acknowledge receipt of the request for
a review within 5 working days. In the event the Chair of the Council is unavailable,
the complaint will be passed to the Vice Chair for acknowledgement.
A meeting of the Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee will be convened within 20
working days of receipt of the request for a review, to discuss the matter and a report
compiled within 5 working days of that meeting.
The complainant will be advised of the date of the meeting. Further evidence or new
information may be provided in time for the Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee
meeting and the complainant will be invited to address the committee, bringing a
friend or associate if they so wish. If the matter remains unresolved, the complainant
will be advised of their right for the complaint to be referred to full council.
Once the matter has been referred to full council there is no further right of complaint
as the LGO has no jurisdiction in respect of parish councils.
Meetings with the complainant
If the complainant accepts an offer to meet to discuss the complaint, the Clerk or
Chair of the Council will explain how the meeting will proceed. The complainant will
be invited to outline the grounds for the complaint, which will be followed by
questions from the Clerk or by members of the Strategy, Policy and Finance
Committee depending on the stage of the complaint.
The Clerk or Chair of the Council will explain the Councils’ position and questions
may then be asked by the complainant. Both sides will then have the opportunity to
summarise their respective positions.
The complainant will then be advised when a decision will be made and when it is
likely to be advised to them.
Resolutions
Within the time frames specified the council should write to the complainant to
confirm if the complaint has been upheld or not. The reason for the decision should
be given and if the decision is upheld an apology provided. If appropriate, the council
may also explain the steps to be taken to reduce the risk of the matter complained of
to be repeated.

Unreasonable and vexatious complaints
There may be occasions when a complainant persists in trying to pursue a complaint
either when it has not reasonable basis or when the council has already taken
reasonable action in response or where alternative processes have already been
pursued. In this event the matter will be referred to council with a full summary of the
complaint and the attempts made to resolve the issue.
The council may decide that no further action can be taken in response to the
complaint and will advise the complainant so, making clear that only new and
substantive issues will be responded to.
Anonymous complaints
The parish council will not respond to any anonymous complaints made.

Approved and adopted by East Bergholt Parish Council: December 2025

Next Review: December 2026