Epsom & Ewell Borough Council are committed to providing excellent customer service and want to encourage you to be involved in the decisions that we make and in the development of services. Understanding customer feedback is an important part of this involvement and the Council therefore welcomes compliments, complaints and comments from you to help improve Council services.

Complaints

Effective complaint handling enables you to be heard and understood. The starting point for this is a shared understanding of what constitutes a service request and what constitutes a complaint. In most cases the Council should be able to put things right through normal service delivery processes. 

Complaint Definition:

A complaint may be defined 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.

Service Request Definition:

A service request may be defined as a request that the organisation provides or improves a service, fixes a problem or reconsiders a decision.

Complaint Policy

Our complaint policy outlines our approach to accepting and handling complaints, including an explanation of our two-stage complaint process as well as covering exclusions and complaints about Statutory Officers. 

A copy of the complaint policy can be accessed at the bottom of this webpage.

How to make a complaint

We are happy to accept complaints via email (complaints@epsom-ewell.gov.uk), via phone (01372 732000) or in writing at the address below:

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council
Town Hall
The Parade
Epsom
Surrey
KT18 5BY

If your complaint is about one of our councillors, please see our Members Code of Conduct page.

If you are complaining  about highways, education and schools, or adult and children's social services, you need to send your complaint to Surrey County Council as Epsom & Ewell Borough Council is not responsible for these services.

Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman

Once our two-stage internal complaint process has been exhausted, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (www.lgo.org.uk), on their website you can also view the annual letter that the Local Government Ombudsman sends to us as well as summaries of any complaints the Ombudsman has investigated. The Ombudsman is an independent person appointed by the Government to look at complaints, the service they provide is free of charge.

In most cases, before the Ombudsman can investigate a complaint, we must have had a chance to answer it. If you have not complained to us, please do so before contacting the Ombudsman directly.

The Ombudsman will ask us what has been done so far to resolve the complaint. They may feel that every reasonable action has been taken or may decide to look into the matter further. When the Ombudsman investigates a complaint, Councillors and employees may be interviewed. A report is made to you and to us and where appropriate, action will be recommended, dependent on the Ombudsman's findings.

The quickest way to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman is to complete their online form as: www.lgo.org.uk/making-a-complaint(link is external)

Alternatively you can also contact them on the following telephone number:

Tel: 0300 061 0614 or 0845 602 1983
Fax: 024 7682 0001
Text 'call back' to 0762 481 1595

Or you can write to them at the address below:

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

Comments and Compliments

We are always happy to receive comments and compliments with regard to our service delivery and customer service. You can send any comments or compliments to contactus@epsom-ewell.gov.uk 

Please note you may not receive a response to your comment or compliment, however, we will pass these on to the relevant service areas for them to review.