This is for formal complaints about children's social care that come under section 24D of the Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006 (statutory instrument no. 1738).

Stage one - local resolution

If the issue is not sorted out, the complaints manager will make sure that we understand the complaint and will ask one of the managers to try and sort it out with you within ten working days, or a maximum of 20 working days.

The complaints manager may contact with you during this stage, and if you're a child who is looked after by us, the complaints manager will make sure that we appoint someone to support and advocate for you if you'd like.

Stage two - formal investigation

Most issues and problems are usually sorted out by the end of stage one. If they're not, the complaints manager will appoint an independent investigating officer to investigate the complaint.

Stage two investigations can take up to 25 working days (five weeks) or a maximum of 65 working days (13 weeks) if they're complicated.

Stage three - review

On rare occasions, if the problem is still not sorted out by the end of stage two, we can call together a stage three review panel of three independent people to look at your complaint.