Complaints policy & procedure

July 2024
[email protected]

Purpose
The Anne Frank Trust UK (“AFT”) aims to provide high quality work which meets the needs of our beneficiaries and supporters. While we believe we achieve this most of the time, we want to know if we’re not getting it right.

To ensure our work remains at a high and improving standard, we have a procedure through which you can let us know if you are not satisfied with any aspect of our work.

Concerns and Complaints

AFT is committed to ensuring that concerns and complaints are resolved satisfactorily at the earliest possible stage. They provide an opportunity for AFT to learn and improve for the future, as well as a chance to put things right for the person or organisation that has raised the concern or complaint.

• Concern: may be defined as ‘an expression of worry or doubt over an issue considered to be important for which reassurances are sought’.
• Complaint: may be defined as ‘an expression of dissatisfaction however made, about actions taken or a lack of action’.

If you are a staff member wishing to raise a complaint, please use the grievance procedure. For specific serious issues, you may also consider our whistleblowing procedure.

Resolving Complaints

Stage One - Many issues can be resolved informally, without the need to use the formal stages of the complaints procedure. AFT takes concerns seriously and will make every effort to resolve the matter quickly. Please provide us with a means of contacting you, so we can have an informal discussion about your complaint, following which we will try to resolve the issue as soon as possible and confirm the outcome to you.
We understand however, that there are occasions when people or organisations would prefer to raise their concerns formally. In this case, AFT will strive to resolve the issue internally, through the stages outlined below. We aim to ensure that all complaints are:

• listened to and investigated thoroughly;
• dealt with consistently;
• acknowledged promptly;
• handled in an appropriate, fair, and timely manner;
• learned from.

Stage Two - Complaints should be submitted in writing by emailing us at [email protected]. We’ll work to resolve any problem as soon as we can. Please provide:

• Your name
• Your email address
• A contact number – if you would be happy for us to call you
• The nature of your complaint and as much information as possible

All formal complaints received will be logged and will be formally acknowledged in writing within five working days. The acknowledgement will confirm who is dealing with the complaint (usually a Director in the Senior Management Team, or if your complaint is regarding a Director, the CEO) and we will let you know when you can expect a reply. A copy of this policy will be attached.

The person appointed to manage the complaint will carry out an investigation and we will give you a written reply within 15 working days of our acknowledgement of the complaint. In this reply, we will set out what we have done, or propose to do, to resolve the problem. If your complaint is more complex in nature and this is not possible, an interim response will be provided informing you of the action taken to date or being considered. We aim to conclude all complex stage two complaints within thirty working days of receipt.

Stage Three - If you are not happy with our written response, please let us know in writing as soon as possible, following which we will refer your complaint to the CEO, or if the CEO has already been involved, to the Board of Trustees. Your request will be acknowledged within five working days of receiving it. The acknowledgement will confirm who will be dealing with the case and when you can expect a reply, which will be within fifteen working days of receipt of this acknowledgement.

The CEO or appointed Trustee will investigate the facts of the case themselves or delegate a suitably senior person to do so, which may be a suitably qualified external person. This stage of investigation may involve reviewing the case and speaking with the person who dealt with the complaint previously. If the complaint relates to a specific person, they will be informed and given a further opportunity to respond.

If it is not possible to provide a definite response within the fifteen working days timeframe, because, for example, an investigation has not been fully completed, an interim response will be provided informing you of the action taken to date or being considered. Complaints made about employees may involve internal processes that take more time to investigate. We aim to conclude all stage three complex complaints within thirty working days of receipt. If the complaint is about an employee, the complainant will not be informed about what action has been taken regarding the member of staff as this constitutes a confidential employment matter. The outcome of any stage three complaint is final and there is no right to appeal this decision.

Stage Four - We monitor and review the effectiveness of our complaints handling process to ensure that this improves continuously, and we learn from complaints.

Board of Trustees Complaints

If your complaint is about one or more members of our Board of Trustees, it will be investigated by either the CEO, a Trustee / Trustees who do not form part of the complaint or a suitably qualified external person.

If the complaint is unable to be resolved in this manner, you are able to seek external resolution with the relevant regulatory body. Further information on how to complain about a registered charity can be found online and the UK government has an online tool for finding the relevant contact details: https://www.gov.uk/complain-company

Data protection

When we receive a complaint, we will process any personal data collected in accordance with our data protection policy. Data collected from the point at which the individual or organisation makes the complaint is held securely and accessed by, and disclosed to, individuals only for the purposes of dealing with and investigating the complaint.

Document control

This policy will be reviewed annually or when there is a change in circumstances, in work practices or following the introduction of any relevant new legislation.