How to complain
Our complaint process
We know that building HS2 will affect thousands of people’s lives. We work with many other companies, and we all try to do the right thing and reduce disruption as much as we can. But if you’re unhappy about anything we do, or anything another company does on our behalf, please tell us. We’ll treat this as a complaint.
We have a process to make sure the right person deals with your complaint as quickly as possible. Please follow this process to help us get the best result for you.
Sometimes we may offer a tailored approach – for example, meeting with you to discuss your complaint – if we think our standard process does not suit your needs. We may also speed up the process if we think it’s appropriate.
How to contact us
- Phone: 08081 434 434 (free from UK landlines and mobiles)
- Minicom: 08081 456 472 (for people with hearing difficulties)
- Email: [email protected]
- Online form: Complete our online form
What next?
Step 1: Recording and handling your complaint
Our Public Response Team will review everything that you have told us. They will then decide the best way to handle your complaint.
If your complaint needs immediate attention (for instance, if it involves a risk to safety) we will always deal with it straight away. In any case, we will always acknowledge your complaint within two working days of receiving it.
Please make your complaint within 12 months of an incident happening or coming to your attention. We may extend the timeframe if there are good reasons that stopped you from telling us sooner.
The Public Response Team will oversee how your concerns are investigated. During the investigation they will speak to other people in HS2 and our partner companies. We may have to pass some of your details on to other members of staff, or our contractors, to be able to investigate your case fully.
We will then contact you to tell you the outcome of the investigation. We will explain what we have found and what we are going to do to put things right. We aim to do this within 20 working days, though we will always try to be quicker than this. If we are going to take longer than 20 working days, we will let you know why and when you will get a full response from us.
We will do our very best to fix your complaint at this stage. If you are happy with our response, this is where the complaints process will finish. However, if you are still unhappy, we will do everything we can to help.
If there is nothing else we can do, you can ask us to take your complaint to step 2. You must make your request within three months of receiving the final response to your complaint. We may extend the timescale if there are good reasons that stopped you from telling us sooner.
What happens next will depend on whether your complaint is about how we are building the railway (construction) or another part of HS2 (services).
Is your complaint about construction?
Step 2: Refer your complaint to the Independent Commissioner
The role of the independent Residents’ and Construction Commissioner is to monitor how we respond to complaints about the building of the railway and to settle any disagreements between you and us. The independent Commissioner will review your complaint and how we responded to it. They will then tell both you and us the final outcome and what may happen next.
You can contact the independent Commissioner by emailing [email protected] or by asking the Public Response Team to contact them for you.
Step 3: Ask a Member of Parliament (MP) for advice
If you think that the decision the Construction Commissioner makes on your complaint is wrong, or if you are unhappy with the way the Independent Construction Commissioner treated you, you can ask a Member of Parliament to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO).
You can find out who your MP is here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
You can find more details about the PHSO here: https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint
This is the end of the process for complaints about how we build the railway.
Is your complaint about our services?
Step 2: Your case will be reviewed by a member of our Senior Leadership Team
This will be someone who has not already been involved in your case. They will present their findings to our Chief Executive Officer for approval. We will then tell you our final response. We aim to do this within 12 weeks. If we are going to take longer than 12 weeks, we will let you know why and when you will get a full response from us.
If you are still unhappy, please go to step 3.
Step 3: You can ask to refer your complaint to the Department for Transport's Independent Complaints Assessors (ICA)
If you are unhappy with our final response, please let us know why and what you would like to happen. You can also ask us to refer your complaint to the ICA at this step.
The ICA does not usually look at complaints that are more than three months old. The ICA will investigate whether we have given you a reasonable service and handled your complaint in the right way. They will then carry out their own independent review of your case. They will tell both you and us the result.
If you are still unhappy after the ICA finishes their review, please go to step 4.
Step 4: Ask a Member of Parliament (MP) for advice
You can ask a Member of Parliament to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO).
You can find out who your MP is here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
You can find more details about the PHSO here: https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/making-complaint
This is the end of the process for complaints about our services.
Your feedback
We value your feedback. It helps us learn how to keep improving our services. After your complaint has been resolved, we may contact you to ask how you felt we handled it.
What is not covered by this process
It helps us learn how to keep improving our services After your complaint has been resolved, we may contact you to ask how your felt we handled it.
Some areas aren’t covered by our complaints process because there’s already another process in place.
These areas include:
- matters set out in a contract with us or our supply chain, such as a licence for access to land or property
- matters set out in UK law, such as the process for dealing with blight notices
- complaints about alleged personal injury or damage to property
- the valuation of a property we’re buying on behalf of the government
- matters of compensation which may be paid as a result of compulsory purchase
- reviews or appeals about decisions under any of our statutory or discretionary property schemes
- issues arising from decisions taken by the Select Committee
- where an undertaking or assurance we gave on behalf of the Secretary of State to petitioners or Parliament has allegedly been broken
- complaints about the criteria for property schemes, eligibility and decisions relating to acceptance for property compensation schemes
- complaints about the government’s decision to build the railway (we’ll treat these as a comment)
- whistleblowing ([email protected])
- complaints about the actions of High Court Enforcement Officers or the National Eviction Team
- work that’s not related to the railway
- complaints about the refusal or handling of a Subject Access request, Freedom of Information Act request, or Environmental Information Regulations request
- complaints from members of staff
Contact us if you’d like more information about what’s not covered by the complaints process.
There may be other matters that aren’t covered by our complaints process. If your complaint isn’t covered by our process, we’ll let you know. We’ll also give you information about where you should go next for help.
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