Complaints procedure | Boundary Commission for England

We welcome comments about our performance and service delivery, and regard complaints as an important way of helping us to achieve higher standards.

A complaint is a significant concern about the way we have acted in the exercise of our statutory duties. It expresses dissatisfaction with the service and suggests alternative actions or ideas on how we could provide a better service to our stakeholders. For example, a complaint might be made about: a failure or delay in dealing with a matter; bias or unfairness; a discrimination or discourtesy; a failure to follow proper procedures; or a mistake made in carrying out our functions.
If you are dissatisfied with our response to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, you should refer to the complaints section of our Freedom of Information policy.
Comments on the substance of our constituency review proposals will be considered as representations on those proposals and treated in accordance with the boundary review procedure.

You can make a complaint by letter or e-mail to the address below. Complaints can be received by any officer of the Commission, but ideally should be addressed directly to the Head Corporate Services.

Boundary Commission for England
35 Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BQ

You will be required to give your name and address, so that we can respond to your complaint: anonymous complaints will be kept on file but they will not be investigated.
Complaints should set out in detail both:
a) the nature of the issue that is the subject of the complaint (i.e. what happened and what you would have expected to have happened); and
b) what redress you are seeking if the complaint is upheld (NB: there will not be any offers of financial compensation).
Following receipt of a complaint, the Head of Corporate Services to the Commission will log the details of the complaint and identify an appropriate individual within the organisation to investigate the complaint. Normally, the investigating officer will be the Head of Corporate Services, though another individual may be identified where – for example – the matter complained about involved the Head of Corporate Services directly.

We will try to resolve your complaint immediately. If we are unable to do this, the investigating officer will send you an acknowledgement letter, including a date by which you can expect a full response. We will make every effort to send a detailed reply within 20 working days. If it is not possible to provide a full response in this time, the investigating officer will write to you explaining the reason for the delay, and giving a revised date by which you can expect to receive a response.

In the first instance, your complaint will be investigated by the investigating officer specified in your acknowledgment letter. All complaints will be thoroughly and fairly investigated. If you feel that your complaint should be investigated in confidence, you need to make this clear when making your initial complaint, and give your reasons. In such cases, we will not divulge your name without your prior approval.

You may ask for your complaint to go to the next stage, which is consideration by the Secretary to the Commission. If the investigating officer at the first instance was the Secretary to the Commission, you may ask for the matter to be referred instead to the Deputy Chair of the Commission. You will normally receive a response within 20 working days of this request.

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, or the way in which it was dealt with, you can ask your Member of Parliament to write to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, also known as the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman who has the power to investigate. You should bear in mind that the Ombudsman will normally expect you to have gone through all the stages of our complaints procedure first.
Information can be found on the Ombudsman’s website:

Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman:
Citygate,
Mosley Street,
Manchester,
M2 3HQ.

Telephone number is 0345 015 4033.