Complaints policy and procedure

Cardiff Third Sector Council aims to provide high quality services to our members and to other agencies and individuals in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in Cardiff.

We are committed to providing a high standard of service and to continuously improving and extending what we can offer. However, we recognise that there may be occasions when things go wrong. It is important that you tell us when this happens so that we can deal speedily with the problem you have raised. Feedback really does help us to improve the quality of our work.

You may complain under this procedure if you feel:

• The service you have received from C3SC has failed to meet our service standards.
• You have not been treated in accordance with our policies and procedures, including
  In accordance with our Equality and Diversity Policy and Procedures.
• You are unhappy with the behaviour of our staff, volunteers or trustees.

Stage 1

If you are unhappy about any of our services, we undertake to deal quickly and effectively with the matter. As a first step, we suggest that you contact the member of staff, trustee or volunteer concerned to see if the problem can be resolved to your satisfaction, who will do everything they can to put things right, including proposing review of our procedures to stop problems happening again. The contact will be acknowledged within 7 working days. The staff member, trustee or volunteer will seek to resolve the matter within 28 working days during which a copy of the Complaints Procedure will be made available to you

Stage 2

If you are not happy with the response provided under Stage 1 or the matter has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can make a formal complaint in writing to the Chief Executive Officer.

The Chief Executive Officer will acknowledge receipt of your written complaint within 3 working days, will investigate the issues raised, and will let you have C3SC’s response to the complaint within 10 working days. You will be advised of any unavoidable delays as soon as is reasonably practicable.

Stage 3

On completion of Stage 2, if you are not satisfied with the response, you have the right to ask for your complaint to be referred to a complaints panel convened by C3SC. The panel will consist of an independent chair and members of C3SC’s board. The Chief Executive Officer may also refer complaints to be considered by a panel. You will be advised of the date of the panel meeting, which will normally convene within 28 working days of the referral. You will be notified of the panel’s decision and recommendations within 5 working days of its meeting. The panel’s decision is final

Grant schemes and programmes administered by C3SC

For all grant schemes, decisions about whether to recommend a grant, and the amount, rest with the relevant grants advisory panel.

However, applicants to any grant scheme have the right to make a complaint about the administration of the scheme, following the procedure set out above. Where C3SC is acting as an agent for another organisation to distribute grants, that organisation will be notified about the substance of the complaint and advised of the outcome.

The complaints panel will let the relevant C3SC grants advisory panel know the outcome of any complaint about the administration of that grant scheme. The grants advisory panel may be asked to review its procedures and standard of service, if appropriate. You will be told the outcome of the panel’s decision within 5 working days.

Staff Feedback:

Employees are encouraged to provide comments or suggestions to improve services, processes and procedures. You can put forward comments or suggestions to your Line Manager – supervision meetings provide an ideal opportunities. Line Managers will raise appropriate matters for discussion at the Team Meeting.

If the comment is in relation to a Health and Safety issue, please also refer to the Health and Safety Policy.

If the comment is in reference to a conflict, please refer to the Grievance Procedure.

Review

Records of complaints and feedback will be kept securely by the CEO/Senior Management, and will be reviewed annually to inform organisational learning, including recommendations for amendments to this policy, to our Equality of Opportunity Policy or Plan, or to relevant procedures.

This policy will be reviewed at least once every three years.

C3SC confirms its commitment to Equal Opportunities in all its activities. This commitment will be demonstrated through active promotion of its Equalities Policy and related procedures.