Making a comment, complaint or compliment about Social Services

To make a complaint, or if you need help to do so, you can ring 01792 637345.

We want to know what you think

Social Services aims to provide quality services to the public of the City and County of Swansea. There may be, however, times when things go wrong and a service user or someone sufficiently concerned with their welfare, may wish to complain.

The law says that you have a right to get your views heard about Social Services.

By telling us what you are unhappy about, or what went well, you help us to improve the way we provide our services.

Who can use the comments, complaints and compliments procedure?

The following people can use this procedure:

People using social care services provided by the council.
People using social care services purchased or contracted by the council.
A representative, relative or friend, properly nominated by a service user or acknowledged as appropriate to act in a service user's best interest when they lack capacity or have died.

If you are not sure whether you have the right to complain, you can check with the Complaints Officer who will advise on each individual case.

How do I complain or compliment Social Services?

Firstly you should tell the staff member who provides support about what you feel is wrong so they can try to put things right for you.

If you prefer you can contact the Council Complaints Team whose officers can deal with complaints against Social Services.

You must bring your complaint within 12 months unless you have exceptional reasons for not doing so.

How does the complaints procedure work?

Stage 1 - local resolution

When we receive your complaint, you will get an acknowledgement within 2 working days. We will contact you to discuss your complaint within 10 working days. This could be via phone or if you prefer we can have a face-to-face meeting. Once we have discussed your complaint and the matter has been resolved, we will write to you within 5 working days of the resolution date, confirming the outcome.

Most complaints are resolved at this stage, and it is usually the quickest and most straightforward way to deal with issues.

Stage 2 - formal consideration

If the complaint cannot be resolved at the informal stage, your complaint will progress to stage 2. Please contact the Complaints Officer to discuss the options available. This stage will be carried out by someone not directly involved with the service you are complaining about. During the investigation, the Complaints Officer will keep you advised and informed of developments.

You are not obliged to take up the offer of a discussion at local resolution stage; you have the right to request a formal investigation from the very beginning if you wish. However, as this is a longer process than local resolution, we recommend trying to resolve matters through local resolution first.

When your complaint is investigated at stage 2, we will write to you within 5 working days of receiving your request for a formal investigation, to make sure we understand all the details of your complaint and the outcome you would like to achieve. We will ask you to confirm that this is accurate and will also give you details of the Independent Investigator.

The date on which you confirm the detail of your complaint is called the 'start date' and we have 25 working days from this date to complete the investigation and send you a written response.

If we are unable to achieve this deadline, we will write to you and tell you why there is a delay and when you will receive the response. This will be as soon as possible after the 25 working day deadline and no later than 6 months from the date we received your complaint.