Complaints, Comments and Compliments Policy

We treat as a complaint any clear expression of dissatisfaction with the service.

We aim to ensure that:

1. It is as easy as possible to make a complaint
2. We treat it seriously whether it is made by telephone, letter, email, via social media or in person
3. We deal with it quickly and politely
4. We respond accordingly – for example, with an explanation, or an apology where we have got things wrong and information on any action taken etc.
5. We learn from complaints, use them to improve our service, and monitor them at our Trustee Board.

How do you make a complaint?

1. You can make a complaint by telephone, letter, email, by social media via direct Twitter or Facebook message, or in person. Please tell us:
   How you would like us to respond, providing relevant contact details
   If you are writing or phoning on behalf of someone else.
2. You can make a complaint to our office by emailing office@frg.org.uk or by telephoning 020 7923 2628. We will try to contact you to discuss your complaint within 3 working days. You will be contacted by the relevant service manager.
3. If you are unhappy with our response to your complaint, you or a representative can ask for the complaint to be further investigated by writing directly to the Chief Executive and explaining why you are not satisfied. You can contact Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive, Family Rights Group, by email: cashley@frg.org.uk; letter: The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London E8 3DL; or phone: 020 7923 2628.
4. She will aim to reply within ten working days of receiving your complaint. If it will take longer than this, we will write to explain why. We will not ask you to wait any longer than a maximum of 20 working days (four weeks). Please note that we are working remotely during the Pandemic so it may take longer than normal to respond to correspondence sent in the post.
5. If you are not satisfied with the Chief Executive’s response, you can contact the Chair of the Trustees (at the same address). The chair (or in their absence the vice chair) will investigate and respond within three weeks. Alternatively you can contact the Charity Commission for further advice: Tel: telephone 0870 333 0123 or visit https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission.
6. We know that you might want to complain in a different language. If so, we’ll try to help by translating the policy if possible, and by using language line throughout the process.
7. Please note we provide a report to the Trustee Board on an annual basis of complaints received.

We welcome comments and suggestions which help us to:

• Think about how we could do things better
• Know more about what other things we could be doing
• Understand the demand for our services.

When we get a comment we aim to respond in the right way. This means that we will:

• Acknowledge your comment within 3 working days
• Pass any comments that require a response to the relevant manager
• Ensure that you will receive a response from the designated manager, no later than 15 working days from receipt of your comment
• When we are unable to make those changes you have commented on, we will let you know, providing an explanation as to why we cannot do the thing(s) you have suggested.

You can send a comment to our office by emailing office@frg.org.uk or by telephoning 020 7923 2628. Alternatively, you can go to our website and leave details of your comment on our Feedback Page.

We treat as a compliment any expression of praise, encouragement or satisfaction with our services. This may be about an individual staff member, a team, the service or organisation.

We are pleased to receive unsolicited compliments from people who use our services. These may come in as emails, telephone calls, letters, cards, via our advice forums, or via social media including direct message via Twitter or Facebook.

When we get a compliment we:

• Share it with the staff member who provided the service, where we can identify who that is, and with the whole team providing the service so that all get feedback
• Consider what it was that prompted the positive feedback, so that we can keep doing it
• Keep track of all compliments received and share these with our trustees and with current and prospective funders
• If you are willing, publicly but anonymously promote the response you have provided through forums such as twitter, to encourage other potential service users.