Complaints & Grievances Procedure.

This policy applies to anyone, volunteers, clients or the general public, who have direct or indirect contact with Women Stepping Out’s service. 

The complaints procedure may also be followed directly or indirectly by a third party representing the interests of the person.                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Complaints could include:

  • Failure to provide a service to the expected standard by neglecting or delaying responding to a request for a service       

  • Discourtesy by a trustee, member or volunteer; harassment or discrimination.

 Women Stepping Out will take all concerns and complaints seriously. We will review all comments and complaints and aim to respond promptly. If the dissatisfaction or discontent cannot be resolved immediately, we will take follow-up action and respond as explained in this policy. All complaints made are recorded and reported to the Trustees

Complaints procedures can:

  • Empower members and clients by instilling confidence and giving them more influence over Women Stepping Out’s operation, thus providing valuable information for the trustees regarding the quality of service offered.

  • Enable Women Stepping Out to show an open, fair approach that saves time and effort by enabling problems or concerns to be tackled early which reduces the chances of problems escalating or the potential of future complaints. 

  • Help find ways of meeting unmet needs and fostering a good reputation.                                                   

The key principles of this procedure are:

  • To treat everyone with dignity and respect, listening and empowering people by resolving complaints at the earliest point in the process.

  • To ensure objectivity, fairness and openness, the resolution of conflict and the ability to move forward.                             

How to make a complaint

The first thing to do if you are unhappy about our service is to bring it to the attention of the Volunteer Co-Ordinator, a trustee or by contacting us at info@womensteppingout.co.uk   We will try to resolve your concerns as quickly as possible and as we endeavour to treat our members and clients with respect, we will expect the same standards of behaviour in return.                                                                                                                                     

There are two stages to the complaints procedure:

1. Informal stage where you can make a complaint in the following ways:

  • By talking to a Trustee or the Volunteer Coordinator in person or by phone

  • By text or writing – in an email, a letter or a note.                                                         

Please ask if you’d like help with this process, or you may choose someone else to assist you, outside of Women Stepping Out.We will record the complaint (including all correspondence) and any actions taken and will try to resolve your complaint within five working days. If we can, we will put things right before this, but sometimes other people may need to be contacted so a solution may be identified. If you feel your complaint is not resolved then you can go to stage 2.

2. Formal stage: If you wish to make a formal complaint please put it in writing either as a letter or an email letting us know:

  • What went wrong, what did or didn’t happen and how you felt about it.

  • What you would like us to do to put things right.                                                                                                                     

Please ask if you’d like help with this process, or you may choose someone else to assist you, outside of Women Stepping Out. You should post your complaint to:

Women Stepping Out,
Parish Office All Saints Church,
Vicarage Fields,
Warwick, Warwickshire
CV34 5NL                                                                                                                                     

or email info@womensteppingout.co.uk for your complaint to be logged and investigated. 

The investigation will:

Establish the facts, which may involve talking to you and others involved.

  • Understand why things went wrong

  • Set out what should happen to put things right and ensure the same problem does not happen in the future.

We will try to keep you informed at all stages of your complaint.

Timescales for a formal complaint:

We will confirm we have received your complaint within five working days. The member/trustee responsible for investigating your complaint will report back to you within two weeks from the date we receive your complaint. If there is any unavoidable delay to this timescale, we will let you know and tell you when we will be able to complete investigations and let you have our decision. We will meet with anyone who feels they are relevant to the complaint including you, and we will gather any evidence/information to help inform their viewpoint. Your complaint will be confidential and information about the complaint will usually only be shared with those who need to know in order to help resolve it. Occasionally, if the complaint is very serious, other people might have to be involved but this would be discussed with you at the time. 

When the investigation is complete we will write to you and explain:

  • Whether your complaint has been upheld (agreed with) in full or in part (if there are several parts to your complaint)

  • How we have reached these decisions

  • What action (if any) we will take to resolve the situation and prevent it happening again.                                              

Putting things right:

If your complaint is found by us to be justified we will:

  • issue you with a full written apology

  • take action, where appropriate, to put right what went wrong and try to prevent any similar problems happening in the future. 

What to do if you’re not satisfied:

If you are still unhappy with the outcome of your formal complaint you can find out how to complain about a charity, a decision we've made or a service we've provided. See more at:

http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc47.aspx                             

Serious incident reporting framework and guidance:

If you suspect serious wrongdoing within the organisation, for example criminal offences, malpractice/misconduct or health and safety breaches, you should initially raise this by following the charity’s Complaints and Grievances Procedure.  If the charity fails to deal with your concerns appropriately or you continue to suspect serious wrongdoing, you can report this to the Charity Commission – including anonymously if you wish to do so. In reporting your concerns to the Commission, you may be protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. To find out more, read the Commission’s whistleblowing guidance.

This Policy was operational:
Date:  10.10.2023

Date of next review:
10.10.2024