Complaints procedure

We always want to hear what you think about Stirling Council and our services, and wherever possible we will use your comments, complaints, suggestions and ideas to improve our performance.

We will try to sort out any problems there and then, but if you would still like to make a comment or complaint, please contact us

Stirling Council wants to give you the best service possible.  Sometimes things can go wrong and you may feel that you haven’t had the service that you expect from us.

If you are unhappy about a Council service or we have not done something when we told you we would, we want to hear about it.  We welcome the opportunity to sort things out and to improve our service

How do I complain?

The first thing to do is to contact the service that you want to comment or complain about.  In most cases, the people providing the service are best placed to get you a quick response.

The Council’s services are:

  • Assets & Support Services
  • Employment, Communities & Youth
  • Economy, Planning & Regulation
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Governance & Resources
  • Housing & Customer Services
  • Social Work

There are a variety of ways to contact us:

  • Telephone the Council’s contact centre on 0845 277 7000.  If you prefer to use a non 0845 number you can dial 01786 404040.
  • Email us
  • Write to the Council’s Corporate Complaints Officer.  The address is Chief Executive’s Service, Stirling Council, Old Viewforth, Stirling, FK8 2ET.


The Council operates a comments and complaints scheme called Talkback.  This is a 3 stage process.

Stage 1

When you contact the Council to make a formal complaint, please tell us as clearly as you can what has happened and what you think we should do to put it right

Contact the service you want to complain about to make them aware of the problem.  They will do their best to sort out the problem on the spot. If they can’t, and need time to check it out, they will get back to you within an agreed time.

If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you can then move on to Stage 2.

Stage 2

You can ask for your complaint to be reviewed by the relevant Head of Service.

You can contact us using any of the methods above.

You will receive an acknowledgement within 4 working days and a response within 15 working days.

At this point, if you are still not satisfied you can move on to Stage 3.

Stage 3

Contact the Corporate Complaints Officer, Chief Executive’s Service, Stirling Council, Old Viewforth, Stirling, FK8 2ET.  The Officer will issue an acknowledgement within 4 working days, further review the matter, and respond fully within 15 working days of receiving your letter.

We will always do our best to respond within agreed timescales.  Where this is not possible we’ll keep you up to date with progress and let you know when you can expect a more detailed response.

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

There is no further appeal within the Council.  If you are still unhappy after completion of stage 3 you may wish to ask the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to consider your complaint. The SPSO is the final stage for complaints about most organisations providing public services in Scotland.  Their service is independent, free and confidential.

You may contact the SPSO directly:

  • SPSO, 4 Melville Street, Edinburgh EH3 7HS
  • SPSO, Freepost EH641, Edinburgh EH3 0BR
  • Telephone: 0800 377 7330
  • www.spso.org.uk

The SPSO cannot normally look at complaints:

  • more than 12 months after you became aware of the matter you want to complain about, or
  • that have been or are being considered in Court.