We are focused on delivering the best for our customers and have an aim to establish a reputation as an organisation that delivers excellent service and is truly customer focused.
Types of feedback
Service requests
In most cases, we address your concerns through our normal service delivery processes.
We define a service request as:
"A request that we provide or improve a service, fix a problem or reconsider a decision."
Service requests give us an opportunity to resolve issues to your satisfaction before they become a complaint.
Insurance claims
North Devon Council insurers
We are committed to providing you with the highest level of service so that any risk of incident is minimised.
Unfortunately, accidents can happen, and, in such cases, we hold appropriate liability insurance. Claims against us are handled by our insurers who investigate as necessary.
We use QBE UK LTD for any motor related (anything that involves one of our vehicles) for damage or injury to property including other vehicles and property.
We use Zurich Municipal for any public liability, pollution/products liability and employee liability, and professional negligence incidences.
Contact information
Email: insurance@northdevon.gov.uk
Telephone: 01271 327711
For Typetalk: precede with 18001
Comments and suggestions
We value your suggestions and comments, as they help us improve our services and drive positive changes. Feedback can be about any aspect of our services.
If requested, our Feedback team will:
- acknowledge receipt within five working days
- refer your comment or suggestion to the appropriate service or staff member who will resolve and respond within 10 working days.
Compliments
We also want to hear when our staff have exceeded your expectations. Your compliments will be shared to recognise and celebrate the efforts of our team or staff member.
Complaints
Sometimes things go wrong, and we need you to tell us so we can try and put it right. We address complaints through our feedback procedure.
We define a complaint as:
“An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual or group of individuals.”
Please note, we cannot investigate feedback where a separate route of appeal exists or where it falls outside of our complaints procedure.
Complaint procedure
By complaining, you give us the opportunity to put things right and improve how we do things in the future.
If you have feedback, please contact us within 12 months of first being aware of the issue. Complaints raised after this time may not be addressed.
We are committed to resolving complaints to your satisfaction by following our structured complaints procedure.
Stage one
1. Acknowledgment:
- Our Feedback team will acknowledge your complaint within five working days of them receiving it
2. Investigation
- The complaint will be referred to an investigation officer in the relevant service.
- We aim to resolve your complaint within ten working days from acknowledgment.
3. Extensions
- For complex or lengthy complaints, we may need additional time.
- If this occurs, we will advise you of this when we acknowledge your complaint or update you with a new expected response date if we need to hold it during our investigation.
Stage two
If you are dissatisfied with the stage one response, your complaint can be escalated:
1. Acknowledgment:
- The Feedback team will acknowledge your escalation within five working days of receiving it.
- They will outline the complaint points they are investigating and any aspects that fall outside of the investigation. If you disagree with the complaint points, you must contact them at this stage.
2. Independent review
- An officer in our Feedback team will conduct an independent investigation
- We aim to resolve escalated complaints within twenty working days from the acknowledgment.
3. Extensions
- If more time is required due to complexity, we will notify you when we acknowledge your complaint or keep you updated with an expected response date if we need to hold it during our investigation.
Our stage two response will include:
- the stage of the complaint
- our understanding of the issue
- our decision and the reasons for it
- details of any remedies or actions to address the complaint
- guidance on how to escalate further if necessary
In rare cases, we may combine stage one and stage two investigations for efficiency or where further review would not alter the outcome.
Stage three (the Ombudsman)
If you remain dissatisfied after completing our internal process, you may refer your complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (the Ombudsman).
- The Ombudsman provides independent and impartial complaint investigations
- This service is free and does not take sides.
Key requirements:
- the Ombudsman requires you to complete our internal process before contacting them
- for more information, visit their website Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
We adhere to the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which ensures:
- prompt and fair resolution of complaints
- use of complaint data to improve our services
What falls outside of our feedback procedure
Certain issues are handled through separate processes due to legal requirements or alternative appeal routes.
Issues that fall outside of our complaints process include:
- requests for service
- issues raised more than 12 months after they occurred or became known
- complaints against a councillor
- parking fines
- council tax banding
- housing benefits decisions
- homeless decisions or allocated accommodation
- planning decisions, listed building consents, and conservation matter
- objections to undecided planning applications
Our approach
We assess each complaint individually and do not apply a blanket exclusion policy.
If we decide your complaint is not suitable for our process, we will:
- provide you with an explanation
- inform you of your right to take the decision to the Ombudsman
Putting things right
Where something goes wrong, we will:
- acknowledge the issues
- outline the actions we have taken, or plan to take to resolve it.
Steps we may take to put things right
- apologising for the inconvenience caused
- acknowledging mistakes and identifying what went wrong
- providing explanations, assistance, or reasons for the issues
- taking action to address delays or errors
- reconsidering or changing a decision where appropriate
- amending records or adding corrections
- updating policies, procedures, or practices to prevent future issues
- reviewing and offering other suitable remedies to resolve the problem
Accessibility and awareness
We are committed to making it easy for everyone to provide feedback. If you are unable to complete the forms, you can reach us in the following ways:
- Email: customerservices@northdevon.gov.uk
- Telephone: Call our Customer Services Team at 01271 327711 (Typetalk users can precede with 18001)
- In-person: Visit one of our council offices
- By post:
Feedback team
North Devon Council
PO Box 379
Barnstaple
Devon
EX32 2GR
Additional support
- Help and guidance: Our staff are available to assist you with providing feedback or understanding the process.
- Alternative formats: Advice and information can be provided in different languages or formats to meet your needs.
- Feedback on behalf of others: We accept feedback submitted by a representative if the individual cannot make the case themselves.
Unreasonable customer behaviour
We understand that customers may express their feedback in different ways, which can sometimes reflect their frustration, anger, or concern about their situation. Most of the time, we aim to address these issues constructively.
However, a small number of customers may exhibit behaviour or contact patterns that hinder our ability to handle their complaints effectively. We refer to this as 'unreasonable' or persistent behaviour.
When this occurs, we may invoke measures outlined in our Policy for preventing and managing unreasonable customer conduct.
What constitutes unreasonable behaviour?
Examples of behaviours that may lead to this policy being invoked include:
- introducing irrelevant or trivial new information repeatedly
- constantly changing the basis of the complaint
- submitting duplicate or repeat complaints about the same issue
- making excessive demands on staff time and resources
- adopting a 'scattergun' approach (e.g. contacting multiple staff or departments unnecessarily).
- using discriminatory or offensive language or views
How we may respond
When unreasonable behaviour occurs, we may take one or more of the following steps:
- request a change in communication style or reduction in contact volume
- assign a single point of contact for all future correspondence
- temporarily restrict contact in extreme cases
For more details, refer to our Policy for preventing and managing unreasonable customer conduct.
Feedback and improvement
Using feedback to improve services
We value feedback as a vital to measure the quality of our services and drive continuous improvement.
- Every piece of feedback helps us identify areas for growth and improvement.
- To improve our complaint procedures, we may contact you after your complaint is closed to invite you to complete a complaint survey. This helps us ensure the process is user-friendly and effective.
If you are dissatisfied with how we handled a complaint about data protection or freedom of information, please contact the Office of the Information Commissioner.
Our annual feedback report
Going forward, we will produce a report detailing:
- the performance of our complaints handling process
- qualitative and quantitative analyses of complaints received
- types of complaints we refused to accept and the reasons why
- service improvements resulting from feedback
- our self-assessment against the Ombudsman’s Code
The first Annual Feedback Report will be for 2025/26
Ombudsman complaint outcomes
The Ombudsman publishes an annual review of complaints and enquiries about English local authorities, including the outcomes of their decisions.
Read the Annual Review Letter 2024
Annual Review Letter continued
All of the ombudsman investigation decisions are published on their website (www.lgo.org.uk)
Privacy and GDPR
To investigate and manage your feedback, we may need to collect and store some personal information.
For more details on:
- why we need your data
- how we use it
- how long we retain it
Please visit our privacy pages.