Complaints Policy

COMPLAINTS POLICY & PROCEDURE
1. INTRODUCTION
The Community Council of Devon is committed to providing a high quality service to everyone
we deal with. However, we recognise that there may be times when things go wrong. We
value all types of feedback about our service and will use complaints to help us to learn and
continuously improve our service. This policy tells you how to go about making a complaint
about our service and what response you can expect from us.
2. ABOUT THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF DEVON
The Community Council of Devon is an independent charitable company founded in 1961. Its
members include the principal statutory bodies and voluntary organisations in the county,
and many other local organisations.
We have a voluntary governing body, our Board of Trustees, in part elected by our full
members at general meetings and in part appointed by bodies as designated in our company
articles. The Community Council of Devon incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee
in 1999.
For further information about The Community Council of Devon see
www.devoncommunities.org.uk .
3. WHAT KIND OF COMPLAINT CAN BE CONSIDERED?
Grounds for complaint include:
• Dissatisfaction with standards of service (either for example, the quality of
information provided to you, verbally or in written form, or the manner in which that
information was provided).
• Deficiencies in standards of service (which might include problems with accessibility
or the provision of information in appropriate formats).
• Discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation.
• Other deficiencies in the quality of your experience with Community Council of Devon
4. WHAT KIND OF COMPLAINT IS EXCLUDED?
The nature of what we do means that we often work in partnership or in association with a
large number of organisations, groups and individuals. However, we cannot respond to
complaints about the public involvement work of others. We therefore suggest that such
complaints be addressed to the organisation, group or individual concerned. Complaints
made to The Community Council of Devon need to relate to the actions of The Community
Council of Devon staff or others working as representatives of The Community Council of
Devon, such as volunteers.
5. HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT
Many concerns can be sorted out by discussing the problem with a member of staff, and
we would encourage you to try this first by phoning 01392 248919.
If, however, this does not resolve the situation for you, you can make a formal
complaint through The Community Council of Devon’ s two-stage complaints procedure.
6. MAKING A COMPLAINT: STAGE ONE
In the first instance, your complaint will be dealt with by The Community Council
of Devon’s Service Delivery Lead. Therefore please put your complaint in writing
and address it to:
Email:
natalie.campbell@devoncommunities.org.uk
Tel: 01392 248919
Mobile: 07903 591132
Natalie Campbell
Devon Communities Together
1 Northleigh house

Marsh Barton Trading Estate,
Exeter.
EX2 8HF
It will help us if you can submit your complaint in writing with as much detail as possible,
including any supporting documents or information. This helps us to understand the
complaint more fully and to respond better to it. In addition, if you have any suggestions
about how to resolve your complaint, please include them.
We treat all complaints seriously and you can expect to be treated with courtesy and fairness at
all times. We will aim to resolve your complaint as quickly and as helpfully as possible.
We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five working days and you will receive
a response within 15 working days of the receipt of your complaint. If for some reason we
are unable to respond within 15 working days, we will contact you to explain why.
The Service Delivery Lead may discuss your complaint with any relevant parties (i.e. people
directly involved in the complaint). However, we undertake to maintain full confidentiality
beyond this and will not discuss you or your complaint with anyone outside The Community
Council of Devon.
7. MAKING A COMPLAINT: STAGE TWO
If you are not satisfied with our response at Stage One, then you can request that the
complaint be taken to Stage Two. At Stage Two, your complaint will be reviewed and
responded to by The Chief Executive, Nora Corkery. She may choose to review it with other
Senior Managers of The Community Council of Devon.
You can expect to receive an acknowledgement of your request to proceed to Stage Two
within five working days, and you will receive a response within 20 working days. Once
again, if we are unable to do this we will contact you and let you know the reasons for
the delay.
8. IF YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH OUR RESPONSE
We do hope that we resolve your complaint in a satisfactory way. However, if, having followed
our complaints procedure, you remain dissatisfied with our response you can ask to have your
complaint reviewed by the Chair of The Community Council of Devon Board of Trustees, Nicola
Gurr, c/o the address above.
If you need a copy of this policy in another format please contact us: Email:
info@devoncommunities.org.uk Telephone: 01392 248919