Due to the current COVID-19 (Coronavirus), staff are trying to maintain services for the most vulnerable and many are being diverted to assist with essential services which means there may be a delay in responding to your enquiry.  There has also been a temporary change to the complaints process and Stage 2 investigations and responses will be undertaken by the Complaints Team Manager and not agreed with service Director, to enable them to focus on maintaining essential services.

​​​​We welcome your views and use them to improve our services. Customer feedback is valuable in helping us to understand your expectations of service delivery, and in identifying service improvements across the council.

Reporting a problem

If your complaint relates to a council service please contact the relevant department to give them an opportunity to resolve your issue as quickly as possible.

• Missed rubbish or recycling collections
• Litter, fly-tipping or street cleaning problems
• Abandoned or untaxed vehicles
• Street maintenance problems such as potholes and broken street lights
• High hedges
• Food complaints (environmental health)
• Make an insurance claim against the council
• Anti-social behaviour and crime
• Dangerous structures
• Planning control breaches

Contact us about another service.

Issues we can’t take complaints about

We are not able to take complaints about:

• Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs)
• Complaints where a customer has started legal action or taken the matter to court or a tribunal
• Appeals about planning decisions and enforcement - these are dealt with under the Town and Country Planning Appeals procedure
• Fixed Penalty Notices. There is no formal right to appeal against a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). If you have received an FPN for littering or dog fouling you can challenge an FPN within 14 days of the issue of the notice
• Complaints about a School or School admissions issues - these are dealt with by separate processes:
• Schools Admissions Appeals
• Schools complaints - Merton Council
• Housing and council tax benefit appeals - these are dealt with by the Benefit Appeals Tribunal.

This list is not exhaustive. Please check with the Complaints Team if you are not sure.

How to make a complaint

• email: complaints@merton.gov.uk
• writing to: The Complaints Team, Merton Civic Centre, London Road, Morden, SM4 5DX
• telephoning: 020 8545 3060 (weekdays 9am to 5pm). We may ask you to confirm the details of your complaint in writing or by email.

If you have a complaint about children's social care you can contact us by:

• email: ​childrensservicescomplaints@merton.gov.uk
• telephone: 020 8545 3086 (weekdays, 9am - 5pm)

Compliments

If you have been impressed by or pleased with one of our services, please let us know by sending an email to: compliments@merton.gov.uk or phoning 020 8545 3060.

You can also nominate a member of council staff for an Excellence Award. These are awarded once a year to individuals or teams that have demonstrated outstanding customer service.

Comments

If you have a comment about any aspect of the council's services, let us know by sending an email to: comments@merton.gov.uk or phoning 020 8545 3060 (weekdays, 9am - 5pm).

Policies

Read Merton's complaints policy (April 2017) to understand how we treat complaints.

Please note that there are some complaints that are handled under different policies. These include:

• Complaints about adult social care: Adult social care complaints procedure
• Complaints about public health: Public Health complaints policy
• Data protection and Information Requests (FOI / EIR) complaints
• Complaints against elected and statutory co-opted members of the council; these are dealt with by the council's monitoring officer and not through the standard complaints procedure – see: Councillors' code of conduct
• Complaints about children's social care: Children's Social Care complaints procedure