I've made a complaint, what happens next?
I’ve made a complaint, what happens next?
The service you have complained to should always acknowledge your complaint and respond with how they intend to investigate.
The organisation should then investigate your complaint and resolve the problem quickly and efficiently. They should also keep you fully informed about how the investigation is going.
You may be invited to a meeting to discuss your complaint or offer mediation or other help to resolve the complaint. It’s good practice to allow you to be accompanied to any meeting – so don’t feel like you need to go alone.
Once they have investigated your complaint, they must then respond to you. Their response should:
- Explain how the complaint has been investigated
- Explain the conclusions they have reached, including any action they intend to take to resolve the situation
- Give details of how to escalate your complaint if you are not satisfied with the response.
To find out more about what you can expect from services or commissioners when you make a complaint, see the toolkit "My expectations for making a complaint" developed by us together with the Local Government Ombudsman and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
