Letter of complaint - time scale

[QueenTabbyCat]

Good afternoon one and all.

Two weeks ago I had to write a letter of complaint to a Government Department. It is my understanding that I should receive a letter of acknowledgement of this letter of complaint within 7 days and within that letter of acknowledgement a time scale should be given as to when I will hear back following a full investigation (ie 3 weeks etc).

Can anybody shed any light on this. I have tried to Google it but just could not find the answer that I wanted. Any help and assistance is very much appreciated

:-)

[cheaver]

I googled Complaints Procedure UK Government. Each of the Departments is listed there and the procedure is written for each it would appear.
All Depts seem to be similar from the few I looked at:

We aim to respond to complaints within 20 working days. If we can’t reply to you within this time, we will let you know and tell you when you can expect a reply.
What happens next

When you’ve made your complaint, we will:

• send an email to let you know that we’ve received it (as long as you’ve provided a valid email address)
• investigate your complaint (looking at whether your questions were answered, whether you suffered any injustice or hardship, and what remedy would be fair and proportionate in the circumstances)

[RonOne]

If your sending it by email,
always send a copy to yourself "Cc" using the same email.

[QueenTabbyCat]

Olivia.....it WAS sent recorded delivery and SIGNED for so I know it has been received. I know by law you have set time scales to reply to various correspondence.....they are a flaming joke....I am abiding by their timescales but need to know what the law says they have to reply to me so that if I need legal assistance this can all be raised with them.

[QueenTabbyCat]

Ron...........they mysteriously don't let you have an email address....and the addresses that you need to write to are never the ones on the back of the envelopes LOL.

[craig7501]

The address on the back of an envelope are normally a sorting room office not the actual department(s) that you really want. Always best to open an envelope and check the address on the letter is the same or different, if different then write to both. Lets take an example:

Address 1 (Written on letter)
Complaints Department
2nd Floor
A made up building
Somewhere
SO44 4RY

Address 2 (Written on back on envelope)
Complaints Department
PO BOX whatever
2nd Floor
A Made up building
Somewhere
SO44 3RY

Now both would go to same building but the 2nd one would go into a mailing room to be sorted whilst the 1st would go direct to the actual department

[cheaver]

Good afternoon one and all.

Two weeks ago I had to write a letter of complaint to a Government Department. It is my understanding that I should receive a letter of acknowledgement of this letter of complaint within 7 days and within that letter of acknowledgement a time scale should be given as to when I will hear back following a full investigation (ie 3 weeks etc).

Can anybody shed any light on this. I have tried to Google it but just could not find the answer that I wanted. Any help and assistance is very much appreciated

:-)

I would suggest writing again, with a copy of 1st letter, giving notice (eg another 14 days) to acknowledge receipt & advise you upon their investigation procedure - include a copy of your 1st letter.
Tell them that if you do not hear from them within the notice period you will refer the matter to The Ombudsman.
JMO. Good Luck!

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