Complaints procedure
How to make a complaint to the Mining Remediation Authority.
If you are unhappy with our service
We are committed to dealing with you in line with our customer standards. In return we ask that customers respect our staff.
We know it can be frustrating, but we will not expect our colleagues to tolerate threatening, abusive or violent behaviour. If you are challenging to our staff, we may not be able to help with your request.
Read our unacceptable behaviour policy
If you’re unhappy with any part of our service, let us know so we can do our best to put things right.
A complaint is defined as an expression of dissatisfaction about the service we have provided.
This may include:
- experiencing unreasonable delays
- feeling like we have not kept you informed
- feeling as if you have been treated poorly
- us making a mistake
The quickest way to resolve your concerns is to contact the team you’ve been dealing with, explaining why you’re unhappy.
If you have already tried to resolve the issue with them and you’re not satisfied with the outcome, please follow one of the following complaints procedures.
Complaint about a coal mining subsidence claim
If you don’t agree with a decision regarding your coal mining subsidence claim, you have a legal right to go directly to arbitration or land tribunal.
You can ask for a member of our executive team to review your concerns before you do that by either emailing customerservice@miningremediation.gov.uk or writing to:
Executive team
Mining Remediation Authority
200 Lichfield Lane
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 4RG
They will respond to you within 10 working days.
If an agreement still cannot be reached, you still have the right to take your complaint to arbitration under one of the following:
Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR)
Apply under the Householder Arbitration Scheme if you’re the owner and claiming for a domestic property.
Contact the CEDR to find out how to apply on +44 (0)20 7536 6000 or email info@cedr.com.
Visit the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution website
Otherwise apply under the General Arbitration Scheme.
Land tribunal
Complaint about access to information
If your complaint relates to a request for access to information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 or to our publication scheme, contact our records manager, who will arrange for your complaint to be investigated.
You can email recordsmanagement@miningremediation.gov.uk, phone 0345 762 6848 or write to:
Records manager
Mining Remediation Authority
200 Lichfield Lane
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 4RG
We will respond to all complaints about access to information within 20 working days.
In exceptional circumstances where this may not be possible, we will contact you within 20 working days to let you know who is looking after your complaint, what action we are taking and when a reply can be expected.
If you’re still not satisfied you can approach the information commissioner.
Please note that generally the information commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have first used our own complaints procedure.
Complaint about re-use of information
If your complaint relates to a request to re-use information under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005, contact our head of digital, who will arrange for your complaint to be investigated.
You can email customerservice@miningremediation.gov.uk, phone 0345 762 6848 or write to:
Head of digital
Mining Remediation Authority
200 Lichfield Lane
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 4RG
They will respond to you within 10 working days.
If you’re still not satisfied, you can approach the information commissioner’s office.
Please note that generally the information commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have first used our own complaints procedure.
First stage of making a formal complaint
If you feel your complaint has not been resolved, you can make a formal complaint to our customer services team by emailing customerservice@miningremediation.gov.uk or writing to:
Customer services team
Mining Remediation Authority
200 Lichfield Lane
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 4RG
The information you need to provide
We need the full details of the complaint, including any people you’re complaining about. This will help us respond to your concerns.
We need to know:
- the team and contact name, if you have one
- whether this is a new complaint or a follow-up to a previous reply
- what happened
- what you would like us to do to sort things out
- your full postal address, phone number and email address, if you have one
We will:
- acknowledge your complaint within one working day
- review your complaint and provide a full response within 10 working days
In exceptional circumstances where this may not be possible, we will contact you within 10 working days to let you know who is looking after your complaint, what action we are taking and when a reply can be expected.
The complaint will be considered by a member of staff as least one grade higher than the staff member who has been dealing with your issue.
Second stage of making a formal complaint
If you’ve been through the first stage and you feel that your complaint has not been resolved, or you are not satisfied with our response, please write to our executive team.
Either email customerservice@miningremediation.gov.uk or write to:
Executive team
Mining Remediation Authority
200 Lichfield Lane
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 4RG
They will respond to you within 10 working days.
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
If you have followed the first 2 stages and feel we have not done everything possible to resolve your complaint, you can ask your Member of Parliament to contact us on your behalf, or ask them to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
After we have given our final response
If we consider that we have given a final response on an issue, we will explain that and confirm we will not be responding again.
This will be considered when:
- there is nothing useful that can be added to what has already been said
- your behaviour is unreasonable
Once this decision has been made, we will not normally communicate with you on that issue unless:
- closure needs to be reiterated
- a new issue or evidence is raised
- a new complaint about the way the matter has been handled is raised
Recording complaints
We will log all complaints we receive so that we can monitor the types of problems, the best way to sort them out and how long we are taking to deal with them. This also helps us to take a closer look at how we can improve our own service delivery.