Complaints and Compliments Procedure

Walsall Community Active Projects CIC

Company number 17051741

Complaints and Compliments Procedure

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1. Statement of Intent

Walsall Community Active Projects CIC welcomes feedback from everyone who uses our services or works with us. We treat complaints as an opportunity to improve, and we take compliments as a chance to celebrate what is working well.

This procedure explains how to give us feedback, how we will respond and what to do if you are not satisfied with our response.

2. Our Commitment

We will:

• Make it easy to give feedback
• Treat all feedback seriously and fairly
• Respond within clear timescales
• Protect anyone raising a concern from being treated unfairly
• Use feedback to learn and improve

3. What Counts as a Complaint

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction with our services, behaviour of our staff or volunteers, or the way we have made a decision. Complaints can be raised by:

• Participants
• Parents, carers and family members
• Partner organisations
• Members of the public
• Staff, volunteers and trustees

4. How to Make a Complaint

You can raise a complaint:

• In person to any member of our team
• By phone, using our main contact number
• By email, to our complaints contact
• In writing, to our registered address

You can ask someone to support you to make a complaint, such as a family member, friend, advocate or another professional. We will provide information in different formats or languages where needed.

5. Stage One: Informal Resolution

Many issues can be sorted out quickly through a conversation. If you are happy to, please raise your concern with the staff member or volunteer involved, or their supervisor. We will:

• Listen to your concern
• Try to resolve it on the spot, where possible
• Confirm what will happen next

Most informal concerns are resolved within 5 working days.

6. Stage Two: Formal Complaint

If you are not satisfied with the informal response, or your concern is more serious, you can make a formal complaint to the Founder. We will:

• Acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days
• Investigate fairly and thoroughly
• Respond in writing within 20 working days
• Explain what we found, what we will do and how to take it further if needed

Where the complaint involves the Founder, it will be passed to the Chair of the Board or another nominated trustee.

7. Stage Three: Review by the Board

If you are not satisfied with the formal response, you can ask the Board of Directors to review the complaint. You should do this in writing within 20 working days of receiving the Stage Two response. The Board will:

• Acknowledge your request within 5 working days
• Review the complaint and how it was handled
• Respond in writing within 30 working days

The Board's response is the final stage of our internal procedure.

8. Taking a Complaint Further

If you remain unhappy after our internal procedure, you may be able to raise your concern with:

• The CIC Regulator, for concerns about how the CIC is run
• The Information Commissioner's Office, for concerns about how we handle personal data
• The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), for safeguarding concerns about staff or volunteers
• The relevant funder or commissioner, where applicable

9. Anonymous Complaints

We will accept anonymous complaints, but it may be harder for us to investigate or to give you feedback on the outcome. We encourage people to give their name where they feel safe to do so.

10. Vexatious or Abusive Complaints

We take all complaints seriously. In rare cases, where complaints are repeated, malicious or used to harass staff, we may set reasonable limits on how the person can contact us, while still ensuring genuine concerns can be raised.

11. Compliments

We love to hear what is going well. You can share compliments using the same channels listed above. Compliments will be shared with the relevant staff or volunteers and used to celebrate good practice.

12. Recording and Learning

We keep a record of all complaints and compliments. We review them regularly to:

• Identify themes and patterns
• Improve our services
• Inform staff training
• Report to our Board and funders

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Policy Review

This policy was adopted on 14 February 2026 and will be reviewed annually, with the next scheduled review in February 2027. It will also be reviewed earlier if there are significant changes in legislation, guidance, or our activities.

All staff, volunteers and trustees will be made aware of any updates and asked to confirm they have read and understood the revised version.

Signed on behalf of the Board