Complaints about our service

Our commitment 

We are committed to offering a high standard of service. We take any complaints about our service seriously and aim to address any areas where we have not delivered to the standards we expect of ourselves.

We value complaints and use information from them to help us improve our services.

If something goes wrong or you are not satisfied with our service, please tell us. You have the right to complain if you feel we have failed in the service we have provided to you.

Please note: You will need to download and save a copy of the pdf complaint form to your device before entering your details.

A service complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction from someone who has used our service.

You can complain about things like:

  • not providing a service, or inadequate standard of service

  • how we met your needs

  • how we communicated with you

  • how long we took to deal with your case

  • treatment by or attitude of a member of staff

  • not following the appropriate administrative process.

This list does not cover everything.

There are also some things we can’t deal with through our service complaints handling process. This would include where you are unhappy about our decision on your complaint. These issues are dealt with through our decision review process.

The following are not covered by our service complaints process:

  • attempting to reopen a previously concluded service complaint or to have a service complaint reconsidered

  • a request for information

  • issues that are in court or have already been heard by a court or a tribunal

Anyone who has used our service can make a complaint to us.

We are committed to making our service easy to use for everyone. If you have an online account you can complain about our service that way. To do this you need to download and use our complaint form from Complaints about our service. Alternatively, if we have agreed with you a different way to communicate then you can use that to make a complaint about our service, again using the form if possible.

As a public sector body the Equality Act 2010 requires us to consider making adjustments if people with disabilities have problems using our service. If those adjustments are reasonable, we must make them. We are committed to making sure the way we work does not disadvantage disabled people and meets our legal obligations.

If you need any help or support in using our service, please let us know and we will consider what changes we can make to assist you. If you want this information in another language or format (such as large font or Braille) please contact us.

Normally, you must make your complaint within one month of the event you want to complain about, or finding out that you have a reason to complain.

In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to accept a complaint after the time limit. If you feel that the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please tell us why.

We aim to resolve complaints quickly. This could mean an on-the-spot apology and explanation if something has clearly gone wrong. We will try to take immediate action to resolve the problem whenever this is possible.

It is easier for us to resolve complaints if you make them quickly and directly to the person or section of our service concerned. So please talk to a member of our staff who will try to resolve any problems on-the-spot.

If your complaint is not resolved a manager will consider it. They aim to respond to your complaint within twenty working days. In exceptional circumstances we may have to extend this timeline. We will only take longer when this will make it more likely that we can resolve your complaint.

 

We must ask you to accept the manager’s decision on your service complaint will be final. There are no appeal rights or further stages.

November 2020

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