Children's feedback and complaints process
Vision
The Council aims to provide the best possible services to our children and young people. Feedback is important to us, as it helps us understand if we are getting things right, and where we aren’t, it helps us to put things right as quickly as possible, by learning from children’s experiences.
Purpose
We want to ensure that children and young people who provide feedback have their concerns resolved swiftly and, wherever possible, by the people who know children best. This procedure should be a useful tool for indicating where services may need improving and it is a positive aid to inform and influence service improvements.
We know that there are already lots of issues that are raised informally by children and young people with professionals that they trust and often those are resolved for children. However, it is vitally important that we capture and record this work so that we can identify any themes and learning and be able to make positive changes for all children who receive services from us.
We will continue to try to resolve most concerns on an informal basis at the first point of contact but this procedure explains how children and young people can take up matters formally through the statutory children’s social care complaint process, if a young person feels that the service received from the council is unsatisfactory.
Scope
This process applies to children and young people who receive a service from Children’s Services.
This process does not apply to:
- Parents/carers and other adults, who can access the organisational complaints procedure (Make a complaint).
- Children’s homes, fostering agencies or adopting agencies – any complaints regarding these services should be directly with the provider or via Ofsted.
- Schools – any complaints should follow the school’s local complaints procedure or via Ofsted.
- Issues that are best managed via the corporate complaints process, such as in relation to Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) services, school transport or school admissions.
Who can children and young people speak to?
Professional groups who children may raise feedback with, who will be expected to log the feedback with the complaints team:
- Social Worker
- Team Manager
- Independent Reviewing Officer
- Missing Coordinator
- Complex Safeguarding Team
- Children’s Rights Team
- Youth workers or support workers.
- Family Time Service
- Independent Advocacy service
How professionals can contact the complaints team
All professionals should submit feedback and complaints, even where these have already been resolved. All submissions should be clearly marked as a ‘Request for Service’.
Professionals can log this via:
- Website form - Complaints
- Email - complaints@bolton.gov.uk
- Phone - (01204) 338021
- Post - Corporate Customer Complaints, 5th floor, Bolton Town Hall, Bolton Council Town Hall, Victoria Square, Bolton, BL1 1RU
How children can contact the complaints team
- Website form - Complaints
- Email - complaints@bolton.gov.uk
- Phone - (01204) 338021
- Post - Corporate Customer Complaints, 5th floor, Bolton Town Hall, Bolton Council Town Hall, Victoria Square, Bolton, BL1 1RU
- In person: Visit any Council building or office where a member of staff will help you submit your complaint.
- QR code.
- Or via any professional or trusted adult, who can submit it on your behalf.
Examples of feedback that children might give us
- I don’t get on with my social worker.
- I am not happy at only seeing my brothers and sisters once a month.
- I need a laptop to be able to do my homework at my foster carer’s house.
- I don’t want to change social workers in the middle of my exams.
- I had to move to a new residential home without having a proper suitcase.
- My worker is not listening to me.
- I am not happy with something at my club or group.