Complaints


The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (‘GMCA’) aims to provide the best possible service to the people and organisations across Greater Manchester. We are committed to providing high quality services to all our customers, but there may be times when things go wrong, and you are left unhappy or dissatisfied. This policy describes our procedure for handling complaints. We will treat your complaint seriously and deal with your complaint positively. We see any complaint as an opportunity to improve the way we do things.

Our aims

We are committed to putting you first and providing quality customer service. This includes dealing with any complaint you may have as follows:

  • We will deal with your complaint quickly and fairly
  • We will tell you what is happening with your complaint, and we will do everything we can to help you
  • We will treat the information you give us in confidence and will not share it with other organisations without your permission unless the law says we must (such as to prevent and detect fraud)
  • We will explain our decision
  • We will use complaints to review and improve the way we provide services
  • If you make a complaint, it will not affect your rights to receive or use a GMCA service

How do I make a complaint?

Before submitting a complaint to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) you should ensure that you have raised the complaint with the correct organisation. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has not replaced existing local authorities, individual councils of Greater Manchester’s ten districts deliver the vast majority of services for your community. Also, the GMCA has not replaced companies and organisations providing and managing public transport in Greater Manchester.

If you make a complaint to us that does not directly relate to an activity carried out by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority we will advise which organisation you should make your complaint to. If you have emailed or written to us, we will pass your complaint onto the right organisation and let you know we have done this.

If you have a complaint about any transport-related matter Transport for Greater Manchester’s Customer Engagement Team will be pleased to help. They can be contacted on: hello@beenetwork.com  or via social media using @beenetwork. The team will make sure that any comments or complaints are logged and responded to, and further information can be found online at www.tfgm.com (external website). 

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) is fully committed to providing the highest possible levels of service to the public of Greater Manchester. Your comments and complaints will help us to identify areas for improvement in our service delivery and result in a better and more responsive service.

Complaints Information - GMFRS Website (external link)

GMCA Waste and Resources

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), acting as the Waste Disposal Authority (WDA), is responsible for providing and maintaining Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in Greater Manchester. Residents, except those in Wigan which manages its own waste services, can use these centres to dispose of household waste free of charge, in line with UK waste legislation. This duty is primarily governed by Section 51 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

How to Make a Complaint

If you have a complaint about a waste site in Greater Manchester (excluding Wigan), please contact the operating waste contractor, SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd via email.

To help them respond quickly please include the following details:

  • Your name and address
  • A clear description of your complaint
  • If related to a recycling centre, also provide:
    • Site location
    • date and time of visit
    • vehicle registration number

If you have completed the complaints process with the operating waste contractor and are not satisfied with the outcome, you may escalate your complaint to the GMCA Waste and Resources Team who will work with the contractor to investigate the issue further.

Email: GMWaste@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk,
Call: 0161 778 7110

If you remain dissatisfied after these two steps, you can request a final review of your complaint by the GMCA’s Monitoring Officer. To do this, please ask the GMCA Waste and Resources Team to refer your complaint within 10 working days of receiving their response.

If you have a complaint about the Mayor of Greater Manchester or the Deputy Mayor of Safer and Stronger Communities in relation to police and crime issues, please read the following policy documents and complete the complaint forms below:

Mayor and Deputy Mayor Complaints procedure (PDF, 279KB)

Mayor and Deputy Mayor Complaint Form (DOCX, 93KB)

Find out more about submitting a complaint about the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor

We want to make sure that when you tell us that you are not happy with something, your complaint is dealt with fairly and as quickly as possible. We have tried to make our complaints process as straight forward as possible, which is set out below.

Exclusions

There are separate complaints processes for some specific services. These are:

  • Data Protection (Subject Access Requests)/Freedom of Information/ Environmental Information Regulations
  • Your Mayor or Councillor
  • Matters already subject to legal proceedings
  • Insurance claims against the GMCA
  • Employee (or, former employees) complaints relating to employment issues or disciplinary and grievance process
  • Issues raised through the GMCA’s 'Whistle-blowing' policy – these matters can be reported here: Reporting Fraud and Whistleblowing

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

The Complaint Stages

Step one - Formal complaint

If you are not happy with the services provided by the GMCA, the next step is for you to make a formal complaint.

You can do this by:

Email: enquiries@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk

Post
c/o GMCA Enquiries
GMCA
Broadhurst House
56 Oxford Street
Manchester
M1 6EU

If you are unable to make a complaint using the above methods, please contact us by phone on 0161 778 7000 to discuss your requirements. Your complaint will be handled by a manager in the team you're complaining about.

For all complaints we will:

  • Let you know that your complaint has been received within 3 working days
  • Provide you with a full response within 20 working days or explain why it might take longer
  • Give you details of who has investigated your complaint and their decision on it
  • Advise you on how to take your complaint further if you are still unhappy with the outcome

You should complain to us within 12 months of the issue happening. We will not normally act on any complaint made after a period of 12 months. However, we will consider any exceptional reasons you may give us for not meeting this time limit.

If you submit a Data Protection (Subject Access Requests)/ Freedom of Information/Environmental Information Regulations request at the same time as a complaint relating to the same issue, we are likely to deal with the information request first as there are statutory timescales for these requests and the response may help resolve your complaint.

If you do not wish to complain yourself, with your written permission, someone else can do so on your behalf.

Step two - Complaint review

If you have been through Step one of the complaints procedure and you are unhappy with the outcome, you can ask for your complaint to be reviewed. Please do this within 10 working days of receiving the outcome of your complaint.

We will write to you within three working days to let you know:

  • Who is reviewing your complaint;
  • approximately how long it will take us to carry out the review; and
  • when they will send you a written reply.

We aim to complete a complaints review within 20 working days.

Managing Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour

We are committed to dealing with all complaints fairly and impartially, and to providing a high-quality service to those who make them. Occasionally customers may pursue a complaint in an unreasonable way which impacts on the GMCA’s resources and capacity to respond to their, or other people’s complaints. We refer to such complainants as either vexatious or unreasonably persistent, and in such cases, we may take action to limit the contact the complainant has with us. Such occurrences are rare, and we will first write to the complainant to advise that their contact is no longer considered reasonable. Further information can be found on our 'Management of unreasonable complainant behaviour policy' (PDF, 208 KB). 

If you'd like to take things further – Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

We hope we can resolve any complaints you might have. If, however, you are unhappy with the action we have taken, you may want to contact the Local Government Ombudsman.

You can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman about your complaint at any time. However, the Ombudsman usually gives the Combined Authority the opportunity to investigate first.

You can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at:

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

PO Box 4771
Coventry CV4 OEH
Phone: 0300 061 0614
Text: 'call back' to 0762 480 3014
Website: www.lgo.org.uk (external website)

If your complaint relates to a matter that is overseen by the Information Commissioner your right of appeal will be to the ICO rather than the LGO, but we will let you know when we write to you.

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Comments and suggestions
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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
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Freedom of Information requests (FOI)
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Dissatisfaction with Greater Manchester Police