Compliments, Comments and Complaints Procedure

Purpose

AIM (Adoption in Merseyside) is the Merseyside Regional Adoption Service shared service that brings together the adoption services of the following authorities:

  • Liverpool City Council
  • Wirral Borough Council
  • Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Sefton Borough Council

Eligibility Criteria

AIM will be responsible for providing a service to:

  • Children who require
  • Adults who wish to
  • All adoptive families living in the region eligible for adoption
  • Adopted
  • Birth parents and former guardians eligible for adoption
  • Independent support to birth parents who risk losing their child to adoption (to be externally commissioned).

Vision For AIM

AIM’s vision is to achieve excellent outcomes for children and adults involved in adoption by:

  • Working closely with partner local authorities and other stakeholders to ensure that children’s best interests are at the heart of placement decisions which will fully meet their needs.
  • Effective and targeted recruitment and establishment of a wide and diverse pool of prospective adopters.
  • Timely matching so that children are placed without delay into secure loving
  • To provide creative and outstanding adoption support
  • Investing in our workforce to ensure that they have the right mix of skills and capacity to deliver excellent services.
  • Continually seeking to apply best practice and innovation for our service and
  • Actively listening to and learning from children, adults and staff with whom we work to develop and improve the services provided.
  • To ensure that all required performance indicators outlined by the local authority and adoption scorecard are achieved and improved upon

Purpose of this Policy and Procedure

Adoption in Merseyside (AiM) committed to dealing with all complaints fairly and impartially and to providing a quality service to those who make them.

Complaints, comments, compliments and questions are important to AIM. We realise that sometimes things go wrong and you will want to tell us about it or make a complaint, so that we can put these mistakes right. We value your complaints as they can help us to improve our service and stop the same thing happening again.

The main aims are:

  • To recognise the importance and value of customer
  • To provide our customers with a clear way of contacting us and tell them when they will receive an answer.
  • To provide accessible ways for our customers to give feedback to AIM
  • To use customer feedback to understand what is causing problems and change our processes to improve the services we provide.

Policy 

This policy is to ensure that our customers have access to a process that allows them to make a compliment, comment or complaint to AIM.

Making a complaint will not affect any service provision. We will try to be helpful, accessible and deal with complaints in a timely and thorough manner, keeping complainants informed throughout the process.

AIM has a statutory duty under the following regulation to provide a complaint process

  • The Adoption and Children Act 2002
  • The Children Act 1989
  • The Adoption Support Services Regulations 2005
  • Getting the Best from Complaints

What is our definition of a complaint?

“Any expression of dissatisfaction made by a person or organisation about a council service, or an action of a person providing a council service (provided by the Council or by a contractor or partner), whether justified or not.”

Who can complain? 

AIM will be responsible for all complaints relating to prospective adopters and adopters, adopted children, adopted adults and letterbox.

AIM has the discretion to decide whether or not the ‘qualifying individual’ is suitable to act on behalf of the service user, or has sufficient interest in their welfare. If this requirement is not met, the Council will notify them in writing giving a full explanation.

What is not covered by this policy and procedures? 

There are certain matters that AIM do not deal with through the complaint processes and stages in this procedure. They are:

Complaint relating to the Local Authorities 

The Local Authority will be responsible for all complaints received in relation to the children’s care planning. The Local Authority will be responsible for birth parent complaints.

Contact details are:

Requests for a service

If the Council received a request for a service via the Have Your Say process, the service request will be sent to the relevant Team for the request to be responded to.

Complaints about another Council or Local Authority

Sometimes it is unclear which Council or Local Authority is responsible for the service

/ issue. If Knowsley Council receive a complaint relating to another Council we will send the complaint on to the relevant Council or organisation and advise you accordingly.

  • Complaints that are over one year old

Knowsley Council will consider any complaint received that involves an issue that has happened over a year ago. However, it is not always possible to respond to a complaint over one year old and the Council will write to you and explain the reason why in such cases.

  • School/Education Complaints

Any complaint regarding a child’s education should be directed to the relevant school in the first instance.

  • Appeals / Tribunals

Concerns and matters that have a right of appeal or have already gone or could go to a Court Tribunal or ILM process.

  • Repeat Complaints

Any complaint that has been fully responded to previously

  • Whistleblowing

Employee concerns (unless the complaint is regarding a service they receive) should be raised through the Councils grievance and or Whistle blowing procedures.

  • Complaints made in respect of a case where the complainant is subject of any review, investigation, potential prosecution or regulatory compliance action by the council.

Any such complaint will be logged but no further action will be taken until such time as any proceedings have been fully concluded. The complainant will then be required to contact the Council and advise that they wish to proceed with the complaint.

What procedures do we follow to review your complaint?

The Council will consider your complaint which will be reviewed under the Children’s Statutory Complaints Procedure.

Children’s Statutory Complaints Procedures has one internal stage / local stage, one stage with an Independent Person and either an Internal Investigating Officer or External Investigating Officer and one external stage- the Review panel.

  • Stage One (Local Resolution): Investigation undertaken by the Team Manager.
  • Stage Two (Local Resolution with an Independent Person): An investigation is undertaken by either a Manager or Head of Service acting as the Investigating Officer or an external Investigating Officer. An Independent Person will be appointed to all complaints to shadow the Investigating Officer.
  • Stage Three (Independent Review Panel): Considered by an external independent review panel.

If you remain dissatisfied you can refer your complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

What if it’s not actually a complaint?

Comments, Compliments and Questions

As well as complaints AIM also receives comments, compliments and queries.

You may have a suggestion about the service you have used and how it might be improved; or you might know somebody who is experiencing a problem with one of our services and wish to pass on the information. Whatever it is, we would like the opportunity to resolve any concerns as early as possible.

If you have a compliment i.e. as an expression of thanks which highlight areas of good practice and acknowledge the hard work of staff or services, the Customer Liaison Team will record, and forward it to the individual member of AIM.

Information provided by you is always sent to the Officers to highlight good practices and possible improvements where applicable, so please let us know.

  • AIM will acknowledge your comment, compliment or complaint within three working days. However if you have sent it to the online facility an immediate automated acknowledgment will be sent to you.
  • Your comment, compliment or question will be passed to AIM and if appropriate a response will be provided within ten or fifteen working days whichever is applicable.

Standards

Listening to your complaints, comments and comments.

If you make a complaint we will:-

  • Acknowledge the matter that you have raised within three working days
  • Fully investigate your complaint
  • Treat you with dignity and respect
  • You will receive a full response within ten working days of receiving the complaint. If this is not possible due to the complexity of the enquiry, we will
  • Advise you of our revised timescale which will be within twenty working days of receipt of your complaint and we will explain why there has been a
  • Offer a full and clear explanation and be fair and honest
  • Apologise if we have made a mistake, and put things right as quickly as possible
  • We will handle and process information in accordance with the Data Protection Act and Council’s Information Security Policy

Expected of you

  • Treat all Council staff with respect. If you do not, we may refuse to deal with your enquiry until your behaviour is acceptable
  • Provide us with all of the information we need to help you; and tell us what you would like us to do to resolve the complaint.

Unreasonably persistent complainants and unreasonable complainant behaviour

The majority of complaints made to AIM will be dealt with in a timely and effective manner through the appropriate application of the complaint procedures outlined in this policy document. In a minority of cases however, the way in which complainants pursue their complaint can impede investigations and lead to significant resourcing issues.

AIM has adopted the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman guidance in relation to unreasonable and unreasonable persistent complaints.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

PO Box 4771

Coventry CV4 0EH 0300 061 0614

How can customers contact us?

To provide an accessible service, customers are able to submit complaints, comments and compliments through a number of channels to the Customer Liaison Team at Knowsley Council.

Complete the online form at: https://secured.knowsley.gov.uk/haveyoursayform

Write to Customer Liaison Team,Knowsley Council, Huyton Municipal Buildings, Archway Road, Huyton, L36 9YU

Telephone Knowsley Council Customer Liaison Team on 0151 443 3231

All leaflets are available in other formats on request by email to haveyoursay@knowsley.gov.uk to meet our customer’s specific needs. These other formats include language translation, braille and large print.

Please note:

You retain the option to make an anonymous complaint, however in order to provide you with a response to your complaint Knowsley Council will require a full postal address or personal email address.

If a customer’s first language is not English we can use the National Interpreting Service

Children’s Social Care Complaints Procedure

In some instances, legal, criminal, child protection, Children Looked After reviews or disciplinary proceedings may take precedence over complaints procedures and timescales.

Stage One (Local Resolution) 

  • The Customer Liaison Team will acknowledge the complaint within three working days
  • The complaint will be passed to a Head of Service, who will arrange for the investigation and response within ten working days from the date of the
  • A response will be provided to you by email or letter depending on your preference. On some occasions a complaint may be resolved by telephone however, you will receive a follow up email or letter confirming the details of the conversation.
  • Every effort will be made to resolve your complaint at stage one, however, you will be advised within your stage one response how to escalate your complaint to stage two. The Council would expect a request for escalation to stage two to be made within twenty working days of receipt of the stage one response.
  • You will receive direct contact from the Team Manager responding to your complaint, this may be a telephone conversation or a meeting.
  • If you need support the Council will arrange this for
  • If the complaint is going to take longer than ten working days, the complainant will be notified by the Customer Liaison Team of the reasons why and given an expected response time.
  • If a response has not been provided within twenty working days, or the complainant is not satisfied with the response, they can request that the process moves to stage two.

Please note: Any individuals who are the subject of a complaint will be notified in writing of the outcome.

Stage Two (Independent Investigation)

  • If the complainant remains dissatisfied with the outcome a request can be made by the complainant to progress to stage two. This request must be made in writing within twenty working days of:
  • The expiry of the local authority’s timescale for a response at Stage one; or
  • Receipt of the response at stage one, whichever is the

Requests for complaints to be escalated to stage two of the Children’s statutory complaint process must be made in writing (which includes emails). The request must give the reason for progressing to stage two and details of the required outcome(s).

  • The Customer    Liaison    Team will appoint an internal or external Investigating Officer and Independent Person to carry out the investigation.
  • If the complaint is going to take longer than twenty-five working days, the complainant will be notified by the Customer Liaison Team of the reasons why and given an expected response time.
  • The expected timescale for a response to the complaint is twenty-five working. If an Advocate is required or there are exceptional circumstances, as with stage one, this may need to be extended up to sixty-five working days.
  • At the end of the investigation, the complainant will receive a report from the Investigating Officer, the Independent person and a letter of adjudication from the Adjudicating Officer. In most cases the Assistant Executive Director of Children Services acts as the Adjudicating Officer.
  • A letter is also sent to the complainant advising of their right to progress to stage three of the Children’s statutory process if they remain dissatisfied.
  • Any individual who was the subject of a complaint will be notified in writing of the outcome of the complaint.

Requests for complaints to be escalated to stage three of the Children’s statutory complaint process must be made in writing (which includes emails).

The request must give the reason for progressing to stage three and details of the required outcomes.

This request must be made within twenty working days of received the stage two reports and response.

Stage Three (Independent Review Panel Hearing)

  • A Review Panel will be arranged if the request demonstrates that:
  1. The report or response at stage two was incomplete or inaccurate
  2. The complaints procedure has not been followed
  3. The service has acted unreasonably in the consideration or resolution of the complaint
  • Early referral can be made to the Ombudsman if the complainant and the Customer Liaison Team agree that a review panel is unlikely to provide a different outcome to that of the Stage two response, and:
  1. The report and response at Stage two is robust and complete
  2. All complaints have been upheld
  3. There is a clear action plan for delivery, and
  4. The majority of the desired outcomes are
    • If the request f or a Review Panel is accepted, the Customer Liaison Team will appoint three independent panel members. The independent review panel hearing must take place within thirty working days of the request being received from the complainant.
  • The complainant has the right to a representative to support them or speak on their behalf. This should not be a lawyer acting in a professional capacity.
  • The Panel will send a report on their findings and recommendations to the complainant and the Assistant Executive Director of Children’s Social Care within five working days of the hearing.
  • The Council must respond to the complainant within fifteen working days of receiving the panel’s report. The response should detail:
  • What actions are to be taken in light of the findings; and recommendations and timescales for their implementation.

If a complainant remains dissatisfied with the way that we have dealt with the complaint after going through all of the above stages, the complainant can refer the matter to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is an independent body who investigates complaints about Councils. However the Local Government Ombudsman will usually only investigate the complaint once the Council has had the opportunity to investigate the complaint through its own complaint procedures.

There are a number of ways you can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman:

Pick up a leaflet from one of the Council’s One Stop Shops

  • Write to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH
  • Telephone 0300 061 0614
  • By fax on 024 7682 0001
  • Visit the Ombudsman’s website

Unreasonable complaint behaviour

The majority of complaints made to the Council will be dealt with in a timely and effective manner through the appropriate application of the complaints procedures outlined in this policy document. In a minority of cases however, the way in which complainants pursue their complaint can impede investigations and lead to significant resourcing issues.

The Council has adopted the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s guidance in relation to unreasonable and unreasonably persistent complaints

Visit the Ombudsman’s website

Definition

Unreasonable complainant behaviour, the complainant may have reasonable grounds for complaint but pursue them in unreasonable ways; or they may pursue complaints which have no substance or have previously been i n ve st i ga ted . Contact by  such complainants  with  the Council may be amicable whilst placing significant demands on resources, or may be emotional and distressing for those involved.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman outlines a number of examples of unreasonable or unreasonably persistent complainants and the types of behaviour that may be encountered:

  • Refusing to specify the grounds of a complaint, despite offers of assistance with this from staff.
  • Refusing to co-operate with the complaints investigation process while still wishing their complaint to be resolved.
  • Refusing to accept that issues are not within the remit of a complaints procedure despite having been provided with information about the procedure’s scope.
  • Insisting on the complaint being dealt with in ways which are incompatible with the adopted complaints procedure or with good practice.
  • Making what appear to be groundless complaints about the staff dealing with the complaints, and seeking to have them replaced.
  • Changing the basis of the complaint as the investigation proceeds and / or denying statements he or she made at an earlier stage.
  • Introducing trivial or irrelevant new information which the complainant expects to be taken into account and commented on, or raising large numbers of detailed but unimportant questions and insisting they are all fully answered.
  • Electronically recording  meetings  and  conversations without the prior knowledge and consent of the other persons involved.
  • Adopting a ‘scattergun’ approach: pursuing a complaint or complaints with the authority and other bodies prior to exhausting the Council’s complaints policy.
  • Making unnecessarily excessive demands on the time and resources of staff whilst a complaint is being looked into, by for example excessive telephoning or sending emails to numerous council staff, writing lengthy complex letters every few days and expecting immediate
  • Submitting repeat complaints, after complaints processes have been completed, essentially about the same issues, with additions/variations which the complainant insists make these ‘new’ complaints which should be put through the full complaints procedure.
  • Refusing to accept the decision – repeatedly arguing the point and complaining about the decision.
  • Unacceptable behaviour when contacting the Council, such as using unacceptable language and or aggressive behaviour towards any Council Officers

Update by HoS on 30/07/2025. No action required.