If you are not satisfied with our service

A complaint is any oral or written expression of dissatisfaction by a person, or their representative, who has haddealings with us alleging that the action, or inaction, of our staff, agents, or contractors, has fallen short of theirexpectations. Types of complaint can include:

• Poor interaction with our office staff, agents or contractors
• Damage to property
• Incorrect tracing
• Fees which have been applied

It’s important to note that making a complaint won’t change how we treat you going forward. Rather, we view complaints as an opportunity to potentially improve our service.

Please note that any complaints or issues pending a decision from the Court or that are subject to legal proceedings must follow those procedures and therefore, the complaint will not be responded to. Additionally, should the matter be subject to an active police investigation then your complaint will not be responded to until at least confirmation has been received that the investigation has been completed.

Regardless of how a complaint is received we will need to receive the below for a full review to be conducted:

• The full details of the complaint including any specifics relating to interactions with our staff or contractors (including names, dates and times if known) whilst also providing any relevant evidence.
• The impact of the event being complained about, what effect did it have?
• What is your preferred remedy, what steps do you feel we could we take to resolve this? Examples of remedies can be an apology, a refund or a request for a change in process

We welcome complaints by any method but the easiest way is to complete our online form here. Please note that this link will take you to our customer service platform, and will open in a new window.

Alternatively, please email us at customercare@cdergroup.co.uk or for HMCTS related complaints please email hmcts-complaints@contactcder.co.uk

You can also reach us by post. Please download and complete this form, and then send it to 
CDER Group,
PO BOX 81793,
London,
EC3P 3GE

As mentioned above, when making a complaint please tell us as much information as possible to help us to understand your concerns.

You don’t have to make a complaint yourself if you don’t feel able to, you can give your authority to someone else (either an individual or from an agency) in writing and they can bring the complaint on your behalf. We will still need all the details of what happened and the impact on you but someone else can communicate this to us on your behalf.

If you are complaining on behalf of somebody else, please ensure you provide written authority on behalf of the complainant.

A wide range of independent advice and support organisations are found on our independent advice page

If you require support in completing a complaint form, then please contact us by telephone on 0330 041 4890 for HMCTS Customers or on 0330 460 5295 for other customers and a member of the team will attempt to assist you.

Additionally, you can email us at customercare@cdergroup.co.uk or you can speak to a member of the team using our online chat service which is available in the bottom right hand corner of our website.

CDER handle all complaints or allegations of misconduct seriously. We understand the sensitive nature of making a complaint, and as such we will ensure that the process followed is proportionate and resolved quickly to avoid further distress.

Your complaint will be handled by a trained professional within our Complaints Team. They will ensure that your complaint is given a full investigation and assess all aspects of your complaint to provide a fair judgement.

Our complaints process

Acknowledgement – We will acknowledge a complaint within 2 working days of its receipt. This acknowledgement will be in writing and via email wherever possible.

Informal Resolution – We will always try to resolve a complaint fully and informally within 5 working days from when we acknowledged receipt. During this period the complaint will be considered by one of our Complaints Administrators, they will review documentation (including your submission), listen to phone calls or watch bodyworn video footage to allow them to reach a fair outcome.

Formal Resolution – we will move to this stage if we have been unable to resolve your complaint by informal resolution. This may be because we did not complete our review within the timeframe, due to its complexity or the unavailability of necessary information, or because we provided our informal resolution, but you didn’t accept it.

We have 20 working days from when we acknowledge the case has moved to Formal Resolution to issue our final written response although we will always respond sooner where possible.

If we aren’t able to provide our Formal Resolution within 20 working days we will let you know as soon as possible and outline your options.

To support the continuous improvement of our people and processes, the details of all complaints are captured, regardless of the resolution type, analysed by an appropriate person / department and reported within our organisation and industry sector.

Additionally, complaints and their outcomes are regularly reviewed internally at CDER and also independently by our Independent Advisory Group (IAG), as part of our complaint processes, and adjustments are implemented where applicable to progress satisfaction in our service and prevent further complaints where possible.

If our complaints process has been exhausted and you remain dissatisfied with the outcome reached, for events from January 1st 2025, you can refer your case to:

Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) 10 Queen Street Place, London, EC4R 1BE

https://enforcementconductboard.org/making-a-complaint/

Please note you have 3 months from when you reasonably could have been aware you had a complaint or 1 month from our final response to your complaint, whichever is the longer. If you refer your complaint after this period, the ECB may not consider your complaint.

If you are complaining about an event which took place prior to the 1st January 2025 and you remain dissatisfied with the outcome reached by CDERs complaint team, details of further escalation can be found below:

Local Authorities (Councils)
(including Transport for London)

If your complaint relates to a local authority debt (eg Council Tax, NNDR, Road Traffic Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) you can escalate your complaint direct to the local authority.

They will ask you what steps you have taken to resolve the matter with us, and the reasons why you feel our response has not been sufficient.

If you remain dissatisfied with their response, you can refer your complaint to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.

Use the link here to find out more about their complaints process. www.lgo.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Central Government
(including National Highways and His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service) (HMCTS)

If your complaint relates to a National Highways Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), or a HMCTS Magistrates Court Fine, you have the option to escalate your complaint to our governing trade body – Civil Enforcement Association.

Complaints to CIVEA can be sent by post to the following address:

CIVEA
PO Box 745
Wakefield, WF1 9RJ

Please note that CIVEA will only investigate a complaint that has been formally investigated by CDER Group.

For more information regarding CIVEA’s complaint process, please go to www.civea.co.uk/complaints/