Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Leeds Directory is an online source of information, offering a comprehensive range of services and community based support, groups and activities, in orfer to support people to live the life they want to live.

As well as accessing information online through our website, we also offer a friendly telephone help line 0113 378 4610 Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. We can also send out printed information too.

There are over 1,500 organisations and services to assist and support people in a variety of ways to live more independently. Organisations providing services around the home and garden, or that provide one to one support are checked and vetted for peace of mind. These providers are marked with our Green Tick.

Our star ratings and reviews allow people to write comments on their experiences of services they have received and also find out what others think. All ratings and reviews are checked before publishing and a minimum of 10% reviews are checked for authenticity.

Leeds Directory is a Leeds City Council funded service.

The Leeds Directory site is for the people of Leeds and supports them to live the life they want to live.

There are over 1,500 organisations and services to assist and support people in a variety of ways to live more independently. For example, services to help maintain the home and garden or equipment and technology that can be used around the home to help with daily living tasks like cooking or getting washed and dressed. Information about events, social groups or activities you might be interested in; either for yourself or for someone else, details of different housing options to consider such as assisted living accommodation, home care services and care homes, information and services that can support keeping healthy and active, and more!

Organisations providing services around the home and garden, or that provide one to one support are checked and vetted for peace of mind. These providers are marked with our Green Tick.

There are different ways you can use this directory to find the information you are looking for, such as;

• use the picture icons
  

  You can also click on the quick link below each picture icon to get more specific results. For example, choose “Builders” to just see results for builders within the Building and decorating Services picture icon.

  

  
  
  

• type a key word into the search bar
  

  You can enter a keyword into the search bar and click search.

  

  This will bring back all results that contain this word in their title, description and address.
  
  Tips!

  Our search is an AND search which means it looks for results that contain all the words you have searched. This type of search is helpful to make searches more accurate and not bring pack pages of less relevant results. For example, if you search “personal care” the search will only show results that contain both the words “personal” and “care”.

  It’s best to stick to 1 or 2 keywords. If you don’t get many results back, try reducing the amount of words in your search term.
  
  

• sort your results
  
  You can use the sort options to order your results by:
  • Relevance order – sorts the results by looking at how many times each entry contains your keyword
  • A-Z order – sorts by A-Z
  • Z-A order – sorts by Z-A
    
    
• filter your results
  You can filter by choosing from the options down the left hand side of the screen.
  
  
  
  

  Choose a ‘category’ first and select Apply Filters. This will show all the results we have in that category. It will also open any additional relevant filters for that category to choose from.

  
  
  
• use a postcode
  

  On both our directory and activities calendar you can use your postcode and set a radius to return results that are closest.

  

  Please note: you must enter a full postcode here, as it is needed to calculate the distance of the listings.

  Distances are “as the crow flies”.

  You can search an area by choosing the Area filter option on the left hand side and then selecting the postcode area you are looking for.

  
  
• use our A to Z
  

  Choose the A-Z Index from the homepage to look alphabetically at what is in the directory.

  
  
  
• use our information finder
  

  Choose the information finder button from the homepage, select categories to find out more and choose what you are interested in.
  
  

Activities calendar

Enter a full postcode and choose from the different categories first to get the results most relevant to you.

You can then further refine your search using the filters down the left hand side.

Show Map to see your results in a map view.

Hide Map to return to the calendar view.

We have a tool called the Information Finder which can help you work out the type of information you need.

It's simple to use - just click on a subject area that you think is most relevant then select from the options below. You will be directed to useful information and also have the option to email the results. 

If you know of a good service, group or activity that you think should be listed on the Directory we would like to hear from you. You can contact us by e-mail or telephone or complete our Recommend a Provider form.

We have worked hard to make this site accessible to a wide audience and to ensure a better experience for all users and all technologies. However we welcome any comments, suggestions or feedback you have; please feel free to Contact Us.

Under development, please check back soon

Any organisation that offers a service in the home or garden, or on a one to one basis in the community, must have a Green Tick before we will list them. Organisations with a Green Tick on their listing in the Directory have been checked and vetted for your peace of mind. Further information is available in the Green Tick section.

You can provide feedback or make a complaint by; 

• calling us on 0113 378 4610 weekdays 9am to 5pm
• emailing us at: leedsdirectory@leeds.gov.uk
• submitting an online form via the Contact Us or Feedback section at the bottom of each page.
• writing to us at Provider Monitoring Officer, Leeds Directory Team, Leeds City Council, 4^thFloor East, Merrion House, 110 Merrion Centre, Leeds, LS2 8BB

You can read our Compliments and Complaints section for more information.

As well as accessing information online through our website, we also offer a friendly telephone help line 0113 378 4610. We can also send out printed information too.

The council cannot promote any political party but if your party is holding a non-political activity or event, you can add this to the Calendar of activities

You can provide us with this information; 

• by submitting an online form via the Contact Us form
• calling us on 0113 378 4610 weekdays 9am to 5pm
• emailing us at: leedsdirectory@leeds.gov.uk

To add your organisation's details, complete a registration form.

If you organisation is already listed on the Directory and you want to change some of your information, go to your listing then use the Suggest a Change button.

Yes, you can.

'My Favourites'

The 'My Favourites' function allows you to save pages from the Leeds Directory website to come back to later, send via email or print out in booklet form.

You can save the pages that interest you by clicking 'Add to favourites' where you see a button, or by clicking 'My favourites' at the top of the page and then 'Add to favourites'.

Once you have collected the pages you want to print, click 'My Favourites' at the top of the page and then 'Print booklet'. This will take you to a page where you can add notes to your booklet before emailing it or printing it out.

Printing directly from your computer

You can also print the pages from your internet browser by selecting 'Print' in your browser menu.

You will need to print each page individually using this method.

Any organisation that offers a service in the home or garden, or on a one to one basis in the community, must have a Green Tick before we will list them. Organisations with a Green Tick on their listing in the Directory have been checked and vetted for your peace of mind. Further information is available in the Green Tick section.

Star Ratings and Reviews let you see what other customers thought of the service they have received.

How can I submit a review?

First, search for the organisation you would like to review by using our Search Page. Click on the provider name to view more details. You can then complete the review form at the bottom of their listing.

Alternatively, you can phone us on 0113 378 4610 weekdays 9am to 5pm to tell us your comments.

What do the stars mean?

When you review a service you can give a score of 1 star (poor) to 5 stars (excellent).

We ask people how they would rate a service’s:

• Reliability – did they do what they said they would?
• Affordability – did you get good value for money?
• Flexibility – were they willing to work around you and your needs?
• Accessibility – how easy was it to contact the organisation/service?
• Quality – how satisfied are you with the quality of the service?

 We then add these scores up and divide by 5 – this gives us an average star rating.

Where can I see reviews?

If you click on a provider name to view their details you will be able to see all of the reviews they have received at the bottom of their listing.

Are the reviews genuine?

We make every effort to ensure reviews submitted to the Leeds Directory are genuine. You may receive a phone call from us to confirm the scores you have given and to confirm the service you received.

Any provider found to be generating false or misleading reviews will be investigated and may be removed from the Leeds Directory.

Where a review raises concerns, and permission to share contact name and information is not given, Leeds Directory reserves the right to discuss the content of the review on an anonymous basis with relevant regulatory bodies.

Leeds Directory will not publish reviews if there is reason to believe they are not genuine after the completion of a verification process.

Who can review a service?

Reviews should only be submitted by people who have used the service.

We will not accept reviews from a Providers’ friends or family or any individual/organisation with a vested interest in the organisation or members of staff within the organisation being rated. We make calls to clients to verify the feedback we receive. Any provider found to be abusing this system will be removed from Leeds Directory.

Please Note: All comments and ratings are the views of people who have used a service and do not represent the views of Leeds City Council.

You can provide feedback or make a complaint by;

• submitting an online form via the Contact us form or using the Feedback button in the bottom corner of each page
• writing to us at Provider Monitoring Officer, Leeds Directory Team, Leeds City Council, 4^th Floor East, Merrion House, 110 Merrion Centre, Leeds, LS2 8BB
• calling us on 0113 378 4610 weekdays 9am to 5pm

Depending on what your complaint is about, we may refer it on to Consumer Direct, the Care Quality Commission and other relevant mandatory regulatory bodies where appropriate.

Care Quality Commission

If your complaint is about an organisation that provides personal care please contact the Care Quality Commission on 0300 061 6161.

Consumer Direct

If your complaint is about a trade service please contact Consumer Direct on 08454 040 506.

There are 12 organisations in the United Kingdom known as health and social care regulators. To find the appropriate regulator to speak to about your feedback or complaint, please visit this website: http://www.hpc-uk.org/aboutregistration/regulators/ 

or call us on 0113 378 4610 weekdays 9am to 5pm for further information.

Leeds City Council Complaints

If your complaint is about the Leeds Directory you can;

• contact us and we will try and resolve the problem you have experienced,
• make a complaint through the Leeds City Council complaints policy. Information is available at https://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/health-and-social-care/adult-social-care/complaints or by calling 0113 222 4405

Procedure

All complaints will be recorded. Where appropriate we will review issues against the Leeds Directory Code of Good Practice.  We reserve the right to remove an organisation’s listing from Leeds Directory pending investigation and also reserve the right to remove a provider permanently from Leeds Directory.

Appeals

An organisation can appeal against the removal of their listing by writing to:

Veronica Evans, Leeds Directory Team, Leeds City Council, 4^th Floor East, Merrion House, 110 Merrion Centre, Leeds, LS2 8BB. Appeals will be reviewed at our discretion.

Yes, choose Accessibility from the toolbar on the homepage and from there you can choose alternative languages, change the font size and change the contrast of the directory.

The Ability Net website also has lots of information to help make your device easier to use.