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COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

General complaints procedures for the Service Legal


Introduction

It is our policy to respond to all enquiries promptly and courteously. Although we work hard to provide a good service, sometimes things go wrong. We aim to provide a procedure for handling complaints confidentially, fairly and speedily.


What is a complaint?

The Service Legal definition of a complaint is:

Any written or spoken expression of dissatisfaction with the service provided by a member of staff or the Service Legals' Office.

This covers complaints made against staff in Service Legals' Office about delays in replying to letters, not answering telephones, alleged rudeness, etc.

It does not cover:

  • dissatisfaction with general Government policies or the Lord Chancellor's own policies - which should be dealt with in normal correspondence;

  • complaints about a barrister, solicitor, or other organisation involved in a court case; or

  • complaints about staff not in Service Legals' Office eg the Court Service.

For example, if someone should protest about the Secretary of State and the Lord Chancellor's proposals for civil justice reforms, that should not be regarded as a complaint in this context. If, however, that person is dissatisfied that we have not responded to their letter that would constitute a complaint.

Complaints may be made by other Government departments, agencies, non-departmental public bodies etc, as well as by members of the public.

A complaint about the Department's refusal to provide information will be dealt with under the review procedures of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.


Our standards for handling complaints

We aim to handle a complaint confidentially, fairly and quickly.

If someone complains:

  • we will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within two working days of receiving it;

  • we will aim to give them a full response to the complaint within 20 working days of receiving it, and if we cannot, tell them why and give them some idea of when we will reply in full; and

  • we will publish annually information about the complaints we receive, our performance in responding to the targets we have set and what action we have taken to improve our services.


Our complaints procedure

The three key stages of our complaints system are:

  • on the spot response ("informal");

  • referral, investigation and response; and

  • internal review.

Although there will be some differences on initial handling, the procedure for dealing with telephone complaints is the same as for dealing with written complaints.


Telephone complaints

If someone has a complaint, they should initially go back to their original contact in the Department who will try to deal with it on the spot. Dealing with a complaint will often be a matter of getting the details of what the problem is, apologising if there has been any failing and arranging for something to be done: for example, replying to an outstanding letter or sending on a document. If the response satisfies the complainant, a note should be made for the file of the complaint and the action taken.

If the complaint cannot be dealt with immediately, we will record details of the complaint so that the matter can be properly referred and investigated.

Sometimes the person receiving the complaint is not the right person to deal with it. When this happens the caller should be passed immediately to whomever in the Department is responsible for the matter and who can organise corrective action.

Written complaints


The same principle applies to written complaints as applies to telephone complaints - they should be dealt with immediately. Picking up the phone can be a quicker, cheaper and more effective way of responding to a complaint, although it may still need to be followed up by a response in writing to ensure that there is no misunderstanding. But where a couple of phone calls have failed to make contact, it will be better to send a letter rather than risk continuing delay in getting in touch with the complainant.

There is no hard and fast rule for deciding whether a complaint should be dealt with on the spot (and informally) or through referral and investigation. It will depend on the circumstances of each case.

Where a complaint requires referral and investigation:

  • An acknowledgement must be sent within two days and contain details of who is handling the complaint and say when a full response can be expected.

  • The investigation will often be carried out by someone senior, usually the individual's line manager. Investigating officers should prepare a letter for their own signature detailing the outcome of the investigation.

  • The reply should:

    • set out the complaint so that the complainant can be sure that we have understood it;

    • describe the events and circumstances surrounding it;

    • and say whether or not a mistake has been made; and give a reason for this decision.

If the investigation finds that staff have made a mistake, the investigating officer should apologise and explain what will be done to avoid a similar mistake happening again. The response must inform the applicant of their right to ask for a review and complain through any Member of Parliament or to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Ombudsman) if they remain dissatisfied following the outcome of the investigation.

If at any stage in the investigation the deadline for providing a full response is likely to be missed, the person making the complaint should be told the reason for the delay and be given a new date when he or she can expect a full response.


Internal Review

In the event that the response to a complaint (made in person or in writing) does not satisfy the complainant, the complainant can ask the Corporate Correspondence Unit (CCU) for it to be reviewed. This will usually be done by the head of the branch or Division in which the person concerned works. Any requests for internal review received outside the CCU should be sent direct to them for logging in. The CCU will retrieve any previous papers, acknowledge the application within two working days of receipt and assign to a reviewing officer.

The review must be completed within 20 working days of the Department receiving the request for review. Reviewing officers should prepare a letter for their own signature detailing the outcome of the review. This must inform the applicant of their right to complain, if they remain dissatisfied following the outcome of the review and believe that maladministration (which includes rudeness, unwillingness to treat the complainant as a person with rights, refusal to answer reasonable questions, neglecting to inform a complainant on request of his or her rights, bias, faulty procedures, cavalier disregard of guidance) has taken place, through any Member of Parliament or to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Ombudsman) asking for the matter to be investigated.


Redress

Providing adequate redress is one of the main reasons for having a complaints system in place. It is the final stage of complaints handling.

In responding to any complaint the Department should offer whatever remedy is appropriate. We should normally offer an apology; explain what went wrong and take steps to ensure that the same thing will not happen again.

We should tell the person who has complained what we have done to put things right. In exceptional circumstances agreement may be sought from Finance Division for financial compensation to be made, where this would be appropriate and in accordance with the rules of Government Accounting and the guidance in the DCA Finance Manual.


Further advice

Further information on Headquarters' complaints handling procedures may be obtained from

Service Legal
Suite 1
Sanderson House
Salter Street
Preston
PR1 1NT

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