Corporate complaints procedure

We care about getting things right first time. We realise that we don’t always get it right, and if that happens, we want to try and fix any problems you may be experiencing.

As well as learning from complaints, we want to know any comments or suggestions you may have that will help us improve our services, you can do this by emailing enquiries@northeast-ca.gov.uk or writing to us at:

Enquiries Team, North East Combined Authority, The Lumen, Newcastle Helix, St. James Boulevard, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5BZ.

What is a complaint?

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the North East Combined Authority (North East CA) or any of its officers. We want to make sure that when you tell us that you are not happy with something your complaint is dealt with fairly and sorted out as quickly as possible. We have tried to make our complaints process as straight forward as possible, which is set out below.

What will not be considered as complaint?

If we consider that your request is a service request and not a complaint, we will signpost you to the relevant team/organisation that can be of assistance, for example:

If your complaint is relating to a bus service then we will advise that the bus provider would be the best contact, your complaint will then be classed as an Enquiry and assigned to the North East CA bus team to respond. You can get in touch with our major operators via the links below:

If your complaint is relating to Nexus, then we will advise you to contact Nexus directly here, or telephone 0191 20 20 747.

Nexus is the Passenger Transport Executive for Tyne and Wear, Nexus:

Owns and operates the Tyne and Wear Metro system
Secures approximately 20% of bus routes in Tyne and Wear
Operates and maintains transport interchanges, bus stops and shelters
Owns and operates the Shields Ferry, and
Administers the Tyne and Wear Concessionary Travel scheme

If your complaint is relating to a service delivered by a constituent Local Authority of the North East CA, we will signpost you to the correct contact.

If you wish to complain about the operation of the Tyne Tunnels, this should be directed to TT2 in the first instance. For more information, visit TT2’s Complaints Process at https://www.tt2.co.uk/help/complaints-process.

If your complaint is relating to charges or operation of the Tyne Tunnels, please note that the Tyne Tunnels are not operated by the North East CA, we do not hold customer data or administer the appeals process, please submit all complaints on this matter to TT2 in the first instance, for more information, visit TT2’s Complaints Process here.

We would not generally investigate complaints relating to Unpaid Toll Charge Notices issued by TT2 or appeals made to TT2. Even in exceptional circumstances where a UTCN or appeal may be investigated, any investigation would not be with a view to overturning any charges as we do not have any powers to do so, this would remain entirely at the discretion of TT2 limited.

The North East CA is not a further stage of appeal for UTCNs, these are only dealt with by TT2. Any attempt to appeal to us will be acknowledged, but there will be no further action taken or referral made to TT2 by ourselves. Therefore please contact the TT2 call centre as soon as possible to resolve your query here or tel 0191 5740031. Call centre opening hours are:

Monday to Friday 08:00-18:00

Saturday 09:00-13:00

Sunday 09:00-12:30

You may also find ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ helpful.

Who can complain?

We are open to hearing from anyone who wishes to contact us. When you contact us, please give us your name and address - including your postcode - and your phone number. If you prefer, you can ask a friend or relative to speak or write to us for you.

Email: complaints@northeast-ca.gov.uk

Post: Complaints Team, North East Combined Authority, The Lumen, Newcastle Helix, St. James Boulevard, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5BZ.

What can a complaint be about?

The complaint must be about something which the North East CA has responsibility for. This could include:

something that the North East CA is doing/has done
advice you’ve been given from the North East CA
how you’ve been treated by the North East CA
any service which has been commissioned by the North East CA
because you’ve had difficulty getting in contact/a response from the North East CA
a member of the North East CA staff, the Mayor or Members of Cabinet and Committees. For complaints about the Mayor or Cabinet and Members please see here
feeling unfairly treated under a North East CA policy, procedure or process.

At each stage of the complaints process, our complaints team will:

a) deal with complaints on their merits, act independently, and have an open mind

b) give the complainant a fair chance to set out their position

c) take measures to address any actual or perceived conflict of interest, and

d) consider all relevant information and evidence carefully.

We will provide you a response when the answer to the complaint is known, not when the outstanding actions required to address the issue are completed. Outstanding actions will still be tracked and actioned promptly with appropriate updates provided to you.

Where a response to your complaint will fall outside the timescales set out in this process, the CA will contact you to agree suitable intervals for keeping you informed about your complaint.

We will do our best to make sure that any extension is not more than 10 working days without good reason, and these will be clearly explained to you.

Matters which won’t be considered under this complaints process

There are separate processes for some specific services, these are:

Complaints relating to Tyne Tunnel charges and operations
Data Protection (Subject Access Requests)/Freedom of Information/ Environmental Information Regulations, these should be sent to foi@northeast-ca.gov.uk
For complaints about the Mayor or Cabinet and Members please see here
Matters already subject to legal proceedings
Insurance claims against the North East CA
Employee (or, former employees) complaints relating to employment issues or disciplinary and grievance process
Issues raised through the North East CA’s 'Whistle-blowing' policy – please see the North East CA Constitution, section 5.4, Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy

You don’t have to know which process your complaint falls within, this is just to let you know that we will sometimes deal with things differently depending on the type of complaint and we will tell you which process is being followed in our acknowledgement.

Stage One

When a complaint is made, the Complaints Team will acknowledge the complaint within 5 days and ask you what outcome you would like to see, if this is not clear within the complaint. The acknowledgment will set out our understanding of the complaint. If any aspect of the complaint is unclear, we will ask you for clarification.

The response will:

make clear any aspects of the complaint which is not the responsibility of the CA and clarify any areas where this is not clear.
address all points raised in the complaint and provide clear reasons for any decisions, referencing the relevant policy, law and good practice where appropriate.
issue a full response to Stage One complaints within 15 working days of the complaint being acknowledged. This response will include information about next steps and your right to approach the Ombudsman about the decision.

The response will also confirm the following in writing or by email at the completion of Stage One in clear, plain language:

the complaint stage
the complaint definition
the decision on the complaint
the reasons for any decisions made
the details of any remedy offered to put things right
details of any outstanding actions; and
details of how to escalate the matter to Stage Two if you are not satisfied with the response.

If you are unhappy with the response, you will have 20 working days to request escalation of your complaint to Stage Two.

If at any point during the investigation of your complaint you raise additional complaints, these will be incorporated into the Stage One response if they are related and the Stage One response has not been issued. Where the Stage One response has been issued, the new issues are unrelated to the issues already being investigated or it would unreasonable to delay the response, the new issues will logged as a new complaint.

Stage Two

If all or part of the complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction at Stage One, you can ask for the complaint to progress to Stage Two; Stage Two will be our final response.

You are not required to give a reason to ask for the complaint to be progressed to Stage Two.

Your requests for Stage Two will be acknowledged, defined and logged at Stage Two within five working days of the request being received.

The person considering the complaint at Stage Two will not be the same person that considered the complaint at Stage One. Stage Two complaints will typically be considered by a Head of Service.

We will issue a Stage Two final response within 20 working days of the request for a Stage Two being acknowledged.

We will decide whether an extension to this timescale is needed when considering the complexity of the complaint and will then inform you of the expected timescale for response, as well as providing the contact details for the relevant Ombudsman. Any extension will be no more than 20 working days without good reason, and the reason(s) will be clearly explained to you.

We will confirm the following in writing or by email to the complainant at the completion of Stage Two in clear, plain language:

the complaint Stage
the complaint definition
the decision on the complaint
the reasons for any decisions made
the details of any remedy offered to put things right
details of any outstanding actions, and
details of how to escalate the matter to the Ombudsman Service if the individual remains dissatisfied.

Ombudsman

If you remain dissatisfied with how we have dealt with your complaint, you can contact the relevant the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Further information on the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman including how to make a complaint, can be found here. They can also be contacted at 0300 061 0614