Making a complaint
All children and young people living in Hertfordshire
have the right to:
Protection – to be safe from harm.
Provision – of services that will help
them grow and develop e.g. health and education.
Participation – to be listened to and to express their views and ideas.
We provide services to help with this. There are leaflets to
explain our services. If you would like some information or a leaflet
about Children Schools and Families’ services you can ring the
Customer Service Centre on 01438 757500.
If you are happy, or unhappy about what we are doing, or have
an idea about how we could do better, please let us know.
If you are unhappy, you could talk to someone you know and trust. You could talk to:
• Your social worker, professional assistant, personal advisor or their
team manager
• Your foster carer or family placement link worker
• Your teacher or someone in school
• Your registered manager, Head of Care or Residential Care worker
• Your personal advisors for Connexions
• The person in charge of any meeting you go to
If you don’t want to talk to any of these people or you want some help, Voice,
National Youth Advice Service and Connexions provide an advocacy service.
What is an advocacy service? The service will provide an advocate,
who is someone who can help you speak up so that your views are heard,
your rights are met and your problems sorted out. You can contact:
• Voice on 0808 800 5792 (freefone) or email on help@voiceyp.org
• National Youth Advice 0800 616101, or text on 077333 4555 or email on help@nyas.net
• Connexions on freefone 0800 389 3258 or e-mail: enquiries@connexions.hertscc.gov.uk
• Childline on 0800 1111 (freefone)
• The Children’s Complaints Officer or the Customer Care Managers on 01992 555859
• If it is about the Children’s home where you are living in Hertfordshire you can complain to Ofsted Complaints Manager , MBU, 3rd Floor, Royal Exchange Buildings, St Ann’s Square, Manchester M2 7LA. Tel: 08456 404040 Email: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk
• The Local Government Ombudsman on 0845 602 1983
The person you speak to will try and sort out the problem with you, or take
your idea or complaint to the right person. You should then get a letter
usually within two weeks which should answer your complaint.
What can I do if I’m still not happy with what has been done?
You should contact the Children’s Complaints Manager and say why you are
not happy. The address is Children’s Complaints Manager, Customer Focus
Team, County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, Herts. SG13 8DF
Tel: 01992 588542 Email: csf.customerfocus@hertscc.gov.uk
What will happen next?
Someone who is not directly involved with you will come and talk to you. If
you have an advocate or helper, they can be there too. This will happen at a
time and a place you agree.
They will bring someone called an Independent Person, who doesn’t work for
Children Schools and Families. He or she will make sure your views are
heard and that everything is properly looked into.
How will I know that they take me seriously?
They will write a report which they will discuss with you. The report will go to
a senior manager who will decide what should happen. The manager will
write to you to let you know.
Ok, what if I’m not happy with the reply that I get?
If you still aren’t happy with how this has turned out you can ask for a special
panel of people to look at what has happened. You must ask for a panel within 28 days of getting the letter.
The panel will tell the Director, the person in charge of Children, Schools and
Families, what they think about the complaint. The Director then makes a
final decision within 28 days of the panel meeting and writes to you.
Is there anything else I can do?
Finally, if after all this, you want to take things further you can contact the
Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) through the Advice Team. The LGO
is separate from councils and looks into complaints made against them.
The contact details for the LGO Advice Team are:
Telephone: Mon-Fri 8.30am to 5pm, 0845 602 1983
Address: Local Government Ombudsman, PO Box 4771,
Coventry CV4 0EH
Email: advice@lgo.org.uk
Text: 0762 4804323
You can contact the LGO at any time but he will probably wait until this
stage of the complaints process before he looks into your complaint.
For more help and advice about the information in this booklet, contact
the Customer Focus Team on 01992 588542. You can also contact us by
email at csf.customerfocus@hertscc.gov.uk
For further information on other CSF services call the Customer Service
Centre on 01438 757500. Callers from 01923 or 0208 dialling codes may
wish to use 01923 471500 in order to be charged at local call rates.
You can also contact CSF by email at hertsdirect@hertscc.gov.uk
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