Complaints procedure

Our commitment

The Met Office is committed to providing a quality service to all our customers.

We take all complaints seriously and use the information to improve our service.

When handling complaints, we will:

• Be courteous, respectful and fair - we ask that our staff are given the same respect and courtesy while they are trying to resolve your complaint
• Treat your complaint in confidence
• Handle complaints promptly – we aim to respond to all complaints within 20 working days of receipt. When we can't do this, we will explain why and give you a date by which you can expect a full reply.

How to complain

You can make a complaint by email, post or telephone. 

Telephone

0370 900 0100

Email address

[email protected]

Postal address

Met Office

Fitzroy Road

Exeter

Devon

EX1 3PB

United Kingdom

What we need from you

To process your complaint as quickly as possible we will require you to provide the following information:

• Your contact details including telephone number and email address
• Information specific to the complaint
• How this has impacted you
• Any accessibility issues you may have so that we can tailor our response accordingly

What happens next?

If the complaint requires investigation it will be passed onto the relevant department.

We aim to respond to you within 20 working days. When we can’t do this, we will contact you to update you on the progress and give an expected date when you will receive our response.

If you're not satisfied

If you're not satisfied you should contact us again asking for a review of the decision. This review will be undertaken by a senior official within the department.

Please explain clearly why you're unhappy with the response to date.

This is the final stage of the internal complaints process.

Complain to the ombudsman

The Met Office aims to get things right first time, however, if you have gone through our complaints procedure and are still dissatisfied with our decision you can contact your MP and ask them to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The PHSO will expect you to have gone through our complaints process before escalation to them.

If your complaint is regarding a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), Data Protection Act (DPA) or Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations (RoPSI), you can refer your case to the Information Commissioner’s Office.