Where an individual wishes to make a formal complaint, they will be provided with the email address of the Complaints Manager and/or our registered office address, as they wish. Correspondence should be marked private and confidential. They should also be provided with a copy of this policy by post or e mail.

To help resolve the complaint as quickly and effectively as possible, the individual making the complaint should do so as soon as possible and should include in it:

Name, organisation (if relevant), address, telephone number and e mail.
If you do not wish to be contacted in a particular way, please state this and we will of course respect it.
As much information as possible, such as what happened, where, when (date/time), who was present and any action taken, and by whom.
What it is they felt to be unsatisfactory.
What they believe should be done to address their concern.
The complaint will be acknowledged within 7 working days and then investigated. If necessary, specialist advice will be sought. Where clarification or further information is felt to be necessary, the Complaints Manager will contact the person complaining to request this.

A response will be sent within 14 working days of the acknowledgment of receipt. If this is not possible, a holding reply will be sent at that time advising when we estimate the investigation will be completed.

The complaint response will explain our findings and what action we will be taking/have taken, subject to the constraints of the Data Protection Act.

If the complainant is not satisfied with the response, he or she may appeal the decision, in writing to the Chief Executive, the contact details of whom will included in our response. Appeals must be submitted within 28 days of our response to the complaint.

The appeal should be specific about why the individual feels the decision made was wrong and provide the facts and information necessary to demonstrate this.

All complaints will be investigated using a fair and reasonable process. A decision will be notified within 28 days and will be final.

Staff complainants are referred to the grievance and whistleblowing policies.