Council tax complaints

Email: counciltaxcomplaints@southwark.gov.uk

Housing benefits or council tax reduction scheme complaints

Email: benefitscomplaints@southwark.gov.uk.

You can also send a complaint via post to:

The Complaints Manager, Southwark Council, PO Box 68763, London SE1P 4DJ

If you are unhappy with the initial response to your complaint, you can escalate your complaint through the corporate complaints process.

Corporate complaints

The council has a complaints policy place to ensure there is a consistent approach to complaints across the council and that all complaints are treated seriously and sympathetically and resolved at the earliest possible stage.

Two stage complaints procedure

Complaint Stage –

Make a complaint about the service you are unhappy with

Make a complaint via the online complaints form, email complaints@southwark.gov.uk, call the customer service centre on 020 7525 0042 or visit a one stop shop.

Your complaint will be acknowledged within three working days, fully investigated by the business unit, and you will receive a full written response within 15 working days.

If you remain unhappy you can take the matter further.

Review Stage

Complain direct to the customer resolution unit who will investigate independently.

If you’re unhappy with the complaint response you received, you can contact the Customer Resolution Unit with a summary of your dissatisfaction.

The review team within the unit will then look at how your complaint was dealt with at the initial stage and carry out a further full investigation.

Your complaint will be acknowledged within three working days and the team has up to 25 working days to respond to you. In some cases this may take longer and if so you will be informed via post if there are any delays in investigating your complaint.

To contact the Customer Resolution Unit email CCU@southwark.gov.uk, telephone 0207 525 2209, or write to Customer Resolution, PO BOX 64529, London, SE1P 5LX.

This is the final stage of the complaints procedure.

Taking matters further

If you are unhappy with the way Southwark Council have handled your complaint upon completion of the stage three investigation, you can contact the local government ombudsman or the housing ombudsman.

The housing ombudsman considers complaints made about local authority services in their role as landlords whilst the local government ombudsman investigates complaints about most other local authority services. You will need to contact an MP or local Councillor in order to progress your complaint to the housing ombudsman.

This is a free, independent service that investigates complaints against councils. You can complain to the ombudsman at any time but they will only usually investigate if you have already been through your local authority’s own complaints procedure.