Who should I write to?
We want to help you get your issue to the right person
As someone living in the UK, you have many representatives at different layers of government.
Different representatives have different responsibilities. Sometimes you have multiple representatives at the same level.
This page explains the responsibilities of the different types of representative to help you make your choice.
Your representatives might also be able to help you with problems outside their area of responsibility, but this is best as an escalation after other routes have been tried.
When should I contact a County Councillor?
County Councils are one of two tiers of local government in some parts of England. Your County Councillor can help with issues handled by the county council, including:
- Education and schools
- Transport and roads, including highways maintenance and road safety
- Fire and rescue services
- Social services and adult social care
- Libraries
- Trading standards and consumer protection
For issues such as council housing, planning applications, rubbish collection, and the local environment, you should contact your District Councillor instead.
Don’t worry if you’re not absolutely sure who to pick! Whoever you write to should forward your letter to the most appropriate person, if you haven’t got it quite right.
When should I contact a District Councillor?
District Councils are one of two tiers of local government in some parts of England. Your District Councillor can help with issues handled by the district council, including:
- Council housing and housing policy
- Planning applications and local development
- Rubbish collection and recycling
- Local environment issues such as parks, street cleaning and noise complaints
- Council tax collection and benefits
- Administration of elections
For issues such as education, transport and roads, fire services, social services, and libraries, you should contact your County Councillor instead.
You have multiple councillors representing you. You can chose to write to one of them, or send a message to all of them.
For a personal matter, you might prefer to write to a single councillor. If you write to multiple councillors, this will be clear in your message and they might collectively just send one response.
Don’t worry if you’re not absolutely sure who to pick! Whoever you write to should forward your letter to the most appropriate person, if you haven’t got it quite right.
When should I contact my MP?
Your MP represents you in the UK Parliament, which is responsible for making laws and supporting/scrutinising the UK Government.
You might write to your MP to raise a local or national campaigning issue, or for helping with a personal problem with a government service.
MPs may be able to assist you with issues with central government departments, such as:
- tax queries
- benefits, pensions and national insurance
- immigration
- health, hospitals and NHS queries
- education, such as school closures and grants
Your MP may also be able to work with your local councillors to help with local issues, such as problems with your local council or local services - although your local councillors will be the first point of contact for these issues.
Your MP cannot help you in private disputes with other individuals or with companies who have sold you faulty goods, nor can they interfere with decisions made by courts.