compliments and complaints policy

policy statement

caba is dedicated to delivering the best possible service to its members, volunteers, delegates, clients, and partners to meet your needs. We ensure that everyone is treated fairly and with respect.

We aim to provide high quality services that align with caba's values of making a difference, working best together, doing the right thing, and being dynamic. We understand that issues may arise or that you might be dissatisfied with the service you received. When this happens, we want to remedy matters as quickly as possible. We are also keen to hear if our services are working well. We encourage you to share your feedback because your views help us continuously improve our services. We aim to handle all complaints or appeals fairly and impartially.

This policy establishes a framework for individuals to provide feedback and ensures that complaints and appeals are addressed effectively. It is designed to give you confidence that we take your concerns seriously. It explains our approach to handling complaints, as well as appeals related to financial assistance and details the procedures we have in place for monitoring these processes.

You can confidentially make a complaint either verbally, by email or preferably in writing to any member of staff, particularly those on the frontlines with whom you have direct contact. Complaints must be made within six calendar months of the incident occurring.

1. complimenting our services

We appreciate and value compliments through email, phone or written communication. Positive feedback is valuable to us as it helps us improve our services. We make sure to document all compliments so we can effectively monitor your feedback. Compliments enable caba to:

understand that our services are being provided to beneficiaries satisfaction and expectations

provide positive feedback to our staff

influence our organisational and service development

Compliments can be emailed, sent by post or by giving us a call (details below). We will acknowledge your feedback within 5 working days of receiving it.

2. making a complaint about our services

We are keen to hear from anyone who believes we have fallen short of the high standards we set ourselves.

If you wish to make a complaint, we will ensure that:

your complaint is treated seriously and promptly

your ability to use a service will not be affected because you have made a complaint

your complaint is handled fairly and objectively

what can you complain about?

the standard of service we provide

the behaviour of our people delivering the service

caba's published policies, resources, services or actions

complaints not covered

disputes between a member and ICAEW (which must follow ICAEW own internal complaints procedure)

anonymous complaints, although we are unable to reply we will consider if action is needed

complaints which have already been dealt with via this policy

complaints about eligibility as our charitable objectives clearly state who we are here to support.

complaints by third parties, unless they are acting as (carer, friend or advocate) and have your permission.

confidentiality and data protection

By using our complaints and appeals procedure you acknowledge that we have legitimate interest in using your personal data for the purpose of dealing with your complaint (further information can be found in our privacy statement).

We aim to treat information related the complaint confidential. However, in some cases the law will oblige us to refer matters to the police or to its regulator.

procedure for resolving complaints

If you wish to make a complaint, we will ensure that:

Your complaint is treated seriously and promptly

Your ability to use a service will not be affected because you have made a complaint

Your complaint is handled fairly and impartially

Complaints must be received within six calendar months of the event or incident. We will acknowledge and send an initial response to your complaint within 5 working days of receiving it. This will include a clear summary of the procedures we use to address complaints.

Whilst we expect to be able to resolve most complaints within the timeframe, if we need to conduct a more in depth investigation, we will provide a full response within 20 working days. If we are unable to meet that deadline due to exceptional circumstances, we will of course let you know.

stage 1: a complaint can be made verbally or preferably, in writing or email any member of staff and in particular the Support Team staff with whom you have direct contact. We will try our best to resolve your complaint immediately. Please note if the complaint relates to one of our partners we will ask them to investigate in line with their own complaints procedure which may lengthen the time before we can respond. If this is the case we will inform you when acknowledging your complaint.

stage 2: if your complaint cannot be resolved informally, you can make a formal complaint by email. Your complaint will be passed to a designated member of the Executive Team, who will acknowledge your complaint in writing within five working days. Once the complaint has been acknowledged, it will be logged onto our internal complaints register, then investigated by discussion with all involved followed by a written response within 20 working days. In complex cases it might take longer, we will then agree timescales with you. You are invited to provide any additional evidence to support your complaint and will be asked to provide such information within 10 working days.

The designated member will investigate the facts of the case. This will involve reviewing your case file and speaking with the person who dealt with the informal complaint. They will write to you with the outcome of their investigation which will include:

A description of the process taken to investigate your complaint

Any actions that have been taken to resolve your complaint

The conclusions drawn from the investigation. They will confirm if they agree or not with the finding from the original investigation and why

stage 3: should you remain dissatisfied with the Stage 2 investigation, you can ask the Chair of the Board of Trustees to review your complaint and act as an arbitrator. The decision of the Chair is the final stage of the internal process and can only take into account the handling, not the substance of the complaint. A copy of the final review will be sent to you (the complainant) and the Chief Executive.

complaints about the Chair, Trustees or CEO

If your complaint is about the Chair, the deputy chair will manage the complaint. If your complaint is about a Trustee(s) or the CEO generally, the Chair will manage the complaint.

There are also independent organisations to whom you can complain about specific services. These are:

Complaints about our debt service: Financial Ombudsman. If we take longer than 20 working days to provide you with a full response to your complaint about our debt service, or you don’t think we’ve resolved your complaint you can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service.

By phone: 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123 or email: [email protected]

By post: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR

Complaints about the way we handle or process your data. If we take longer than 20 working days to provide you with a full response to your complaint about the handling of your data. Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) How to make a data protection complaint to an organisation | ICO or by phone 0303 123 1113

Complaints about Fundraising: Fundraising Regulator

3. financial hardship appeals only

This part of the policy applies to all appeals relating to support applications, whether the applicant is a caba employee or non-caba employee. It is distinct from caba’s policies on complaints, adopted by the Service User, Support and Engagement Committee. It will be reviewed as part of our policy review cycle and may be amended from time to time.  

If you feel that caba’s decision about your financial assistance decision is wrong or unfair, you are entitled to appeal in writing, outlining the basis of your appeal in as much detail as possible to Head of Support Services within 10 working days of the date on which you were informed of the decision.

On receipt of your appeal, caba will arrange for the appeal to be considered by a senior representative who has not been previously involved in the case and is senior to the individual who made the original decision (the “Appeal Manager”). The Appeal Manager will acknowledge your appeal in writing within two working days.

If your appeal reveals any new information which was not considered by caba in making the original decision, the Appeal Manager will assess whether that information could have had a material impact on the original decision. If so, you may be invited to submit a revised application which will then be re-assessed  An appeal will be a review of the fairness of the original decision in the light of the procedure that was followed, rather than a re-assessment of the whole application. 

Following our review of your appeal, we may: 

confirm the original decision; or

ask the original decision maker to review your application again in light of the issues identified as part of the appeal. It is not the role of the Appeal Manager to make a fresh decision about the application

We will inform you in writing of our final decision as soon as possible, usually within 14 working days of receipt of your appeal. There will be no further right of appeal.

4. monitoring

Annually, the Chief Executive reviews and summarises all compliments, complaints, and appeals received. Then the findings are presented to the Board along with any appropriate recommendations.

5. contact details

You can provide your feedback in writing or by email to the Executive Team at caba, Merrett House Swift Park, Old Leicester Road Rugby , CV21 1DZ or call to discuss your feedback on +44 (0)1788 556 366

Please mark written complaints as ‘Private & Confidential’