Complaints about Ofcom
We always do our best to meet the needs of businesses, consumers, viewers and listeners.
But sometimes things can go wrong – or we can fall short of our own high standards.
If you think Ofcom colleagues have failed to correctly follow procedure or that we didn’t handle our contact with you appropriately, we have a two-stage process for handling your complaint, which is outlined below.
An investigation by the Corporation Secretary is not an appeal. They cannot reinvestigate the outcome of any original decision by Ofcom, nor can they make decisions on behalf of other Ofcom departments.
If you'd like to complain about Ofcom's work in the Welsh language, please complete and submit our online complaints form. We will review your case and respond to you as quickly as possible.
If you think Ofcom colleagues have failed to correctly follow procedure or that we didn’t handle our contact with you appropriately, we have a two-stage process for handling your complaint, which is outlined below.
Stage one
Under stage one, we ask that you first contact the Ofcom team your complaint relates to, outlining your concerns. This gives them the chance to look into your concerns and, where needed, to put things right. In these cases, please explain to our colleagues, as clearly and as concisely as possible, how you believe they have failed to correctly follow procedure or handle their contact with you appropriately.
If you contact the Corporation Secretary without having completed stage one, the Corporation Secretary’s Team may refer your email to the relevant Ofcom team for an initial response.
Stage two
If, after you have completed stage one, you believe your complaint has not been handled appropriately, you can ask the Corporation Secretary to review the issue. As stated above, you will need to outline clearly and concisely how you believe Ofcom colleagues have failed to follow Ofcom procedure and/or handle their contact with you appropriately. The Corporation Secretary’s Team will advise if we can take forward your complaint and if so will investigate. The Corporation Secretary’s decision will be the final stage of the complaints process at Ofcom and there is no recourse for further escalation within Ofcom.
Before you contact the Corporation Secretary you should check if we can consider your complaint.
They can consider complaints where you think Ofcom colleagues have failed to correctly follow procedures or that we didn’t handle our contact with you appropriately.
It is important to note that an investigation by the Corporation Secretary is not an appeal. They cannot reinvestigate the outcome of any original decision by Ofcom, nor can they make decisions on behalf of other Ofcom departments.
They cannot investigate instances where you are unhappy that Ofcom colleagues have correctly advised that a matter you have raised or action you would like them to take is not within Ofcom’s remit or regulatory powers.
We can generally only consider your complaint if it is brought to us with one month of you receiving a final response from the relevant team.
Examples of what can and cannot be investigated
- Somebody has complained to Ofcom by email and thinks Ofcom has been rude in its response. This concerns how Ofcom colleagues have handled contact and so can be investigated under the Corporation Secretary process.
- Somebody has submitted a licence application and has concerns that Ofcom has not handled their application in line with the relevant guidance or procedures. This concerns whether Ofcom colleagues have correctly followed Ofcom procedure and so can be investigated under the Corporation Secretary process.
- Somebody disagrees with Ofcom’s decision about whether a television programme was in breach of the Broadcasting Code. This concerns a decision made by Ofcom, as opposed to whether Ofcom colleagues correctly followed procedure or handled their contact with the complainant appropriately. This cannot be considered by the Corporation Secretary as it does not fall within the remit of their process.
- Somebody has asked Ofcom to order a company to remove a video from their platform that they consider offensive. This concerns a request that is outside Ofcom’s powers and so cannot be investigated under the Corporation Secretary process.
When you contact the Corporation Secretary
- You can contact the Corporation Secretary by email at corporationsecretary@ofcom.org.uk.
- Your complaint will be assessed to see if it can be considered by the Corporation Secretary.
- If you have not completed Stage One of the complaints process and your complaint falls within their remit the Corporation Secretary’s Team may refer your email to the relevant Ofcom team for an initial response.
- When a complaint cannot be considered, the Corporation Secretary’s Team will notify you of this.
- If your complaint falls within the scope of the Corporation Secretary’s remit and Stage One has been completed you will receive an acknowledgement of this. Following an investigation you will receive a response in due course.
We aim to make our service accessible to everyone. Please therefore feel free to make us aware of anything that might be relevant to, or which you consider might impact on, our contact with you and any additional steps that you think we may be able to take to support you. We will aim to make reasonable adjustments to our approach to communicating with you and our handling of your case to take account of such circumstances. For example, should email be inaccessible for you, please contact Ofcom using the details on our contact us page and specify this to the colleague handling your contact. They will arrange for the Corporation Secretary’s office to provide you with a reasonable adjustment.
When providing a service in Welsh, we aim to make sure the Welsh language is treated no less favourably than the English language.
Further information about this can be found here. If you would like to make a complaint about Ofcom’s work in this area please complete and submit our online complaint form. We will review your case and respond as quickly as possible.
Ofcom is an independent regulator and we are accountable to Parliament. If you have completed the full Ofcom complaints process and do not think your complaint has been fully considered, you may be able to submit your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman which makes final decisions on complaints that have not been resolved. You will need your MP to sign your complaint.