Complaints

Despite our best efforts, we may sometimes make mistakes; and when we do we want you to tell us about them, through our formal Complaints Procedure.

This Procedure is for complaints about actions or decisions that are entirely under the control of the Charity, its employees and Trustees. These include:

• The conduct of employees, trustees, volunteers and home-care service providers

• The conduct of individual Members (or their carers) on Charity trips or holidays

• Administrative errors that have caused a Member to be disadvantaged (e.g. missed off the list for a trip/holiday, didn’t receive their ‘pension’)

• Decisions regarding Membership or award of a grant

• Decisions to exclude a Member (or their carer) from trips/holidays, e.g. due to their behaviour

Complaints about the services provided by parties such as hotels, venues or coach companies are not covered by this Procedure.

Complaints should be notified in writing (letter or e-mail) to the Clerk. Any complaints received by a Trustee, Visitor or other employee should be passed on the Clerk immediately. This includes verbal complaints, so that the Clerk can contact the complainant to obtain details of the problem.

The Clerk will contact the complainant within 5 working days (ideally sooner) to: acknowledge receipt of the complaint; tell the complainant how their complaint will be dealt with; seek further information if it is required; (in some cases) provide the Charity’s initial response to the complaint.

The Clerk is responsible for investigating the substance of the complaint and deciding how to respond. S/he may consult with other employees or the Chair of the Board of Trustees before reaching a decision, if appropriate.

The response to a complaint should ideally be given within 10 working days of its receipt. Where this is not possible (e.g. because of its complexity), then an interim response should be given, which includes a likely timescale for full response.

In the event that the complainant is not satisfied with the Clerk’s response, they may appeal to the Chair of the Board of Trustees. The Chair of the Board may decide to discuss the matter with the full Trustee Board, with individual Trustees or with a Sub-Committee before reaching a decision.

The Chair will communicate her/his decision in writing. There is no further right of appeal.

In the event that a complaint is about the conduct of the Clerk it shall go straight to the Chair of the Board of Trustees and s/he will carry out steps described above.