Ealing CVS

CUSTOMER CARECHARTER & COMPLAINTSPOLICY AND PROCEDURE

NOVEMBER 2014

OUR CUSTOMERS

Our customers are those using the services of Ealing CVS. As Ealing CVS is a voluntary organisation and registered charity - we prefer to refer to our customers as ‘service users’.

OUR KEY CUSTOMER COMMITMENTS

No organisation is perfect all the time, but an effective organisation aims to meet high

standards most of the time. This Charter sets out our 20 ‘key customer commitments’. Our target is to achieve thesestandards at least 90% of the time.

Ealing CVS aims to:

  1. Deal with all our service users with professionalism, politeness, courtesy andrespect
  2. Deal with all our service users on an equal basis regardless of race, sex, disability,age, faith, refugee status, health status or sexual orientation and provide an equalservice to groups regardless of the size or type of group or area of the borough inwhich they work
  3. Treat all information in one to one sessions or in volunteer interviews as confidentialand not pass any information on to any other agency except with the priorpermission of the service user or individual volunteer concerned
  4. Provide information to our service users in a variety of formats and allow our serviceusers to choose whether to receive information by post or through e-mail
  5. Hold additional meetings, events and volunteer interviews outside our standardoffice times when our service users request these (subject to our resources andstaff time)
  6. Ensure our offices and all venues used by ECVS are accessible to people withdisabilities or with mobility problems
  7. Review and update our equal opportunities and customer care policies every twoyears and make copies of these policies available to any service user who requeststhem
  8. Monitor take up of our services by different service users and where necessarychange our services and policies to reflect user needs and ensure equal access
  9. Operate a complaints and compliments procedure and make this available in ouroffice and to any service user who requests it
  10. Develop continuous performance improvement by training and developing staff andvolunteers and by publicising ‘compliments’ from service users when we receivethem
  11. Provide a minimum 10 working days notification of meetings, events, conferences
  12. Provide an office service open to local groups and volunteers from 9:30am - 4:30pm Monday to Friday and where necessary offer appointments outside thesehours
  13. Answer phone calls within 5 rings
  14. Provide a voicemail service with details of email contact in the absence of teammembers being available
  15. Respond to phone calls and e-mails within 3 working days or leave an explicit out ofoffice assistant message giving alternative contact(s) when staff are away
  16. Respond to letters within 5 working days of receipt
  17. Respond to requests for information within 5 working days or if the informationrequired is particularly complex let the service user know within 5 working dayswhen a full response will be provided
  18. Signpost to appropriate organisations, where we do not offer a service, within 5working days
  19. Offer groups an appointment for a one to one capacity building or advice sessionwithin 10 working days of the request being received (unless a later date is mutuallyacceptable)
  20. Offer a volunteer interview within 10 working days

Why do we need a service standard?

In order to know whether we are providing a service which meets our commitment to highstandards of work, fairness and equality of access we have to review our performanceagainst clear criteria. This also gives us the information we need to put resources intoareas where there is greatest demand. The purpose of the service standard is for us toaim to meet it. There will be occasions when we fail to do so, if there are not we may havenot set our standards high enough. We rely on our service users to inform us when we fail to meet their expectations and totell us when we provide them with a good service. Our standards are also upheld by ourmembership of national associations -such as the National Association of Councils forVoluntary Service and Volunteering England – and through our Investors in People andInvesting in Volunteers Awards.

Our Commitment to our Service Users

We strive to achieve high standards at Ealing CVS, but we recognise that there may betimes when our service will not meet these standards. So we know when this happens wehave a complaints procedure so that anyone who comes into contact with our organisationknows:

How you can complain

What will happen if you complain

How your complaint will be handled

When your complaint will be resolved

What changes will be made as a result of your complaint

That you will not be discriminated against by ECVS as a consequence of yourcomplaint

We also welcome compliments on good service, general feedback or suggestions or ideason how to improve our services. Please speak, e-mail or write direct to the members ofECVS staff you are in contact with or e-mail our Chief Executive Andy Roper().

EALING CVS COMPLAINTS ANDCOMPLIMENTS PROCEDURE

This policy is for complaints and compliments directed at paid employees of Ealing CVS. Volunteers of Ealing CVS should refer to the Volunteer Problem Solving Procedure.

Our Commitment to our Staff

Our staff have the right to:

  • Be protected against unfair, trivial and unfounded allegations
  • Be protected from aggressive, abusive or discriminatory language or behaviour
  • Receive proper management support and training in dealing with complaints

General Guidelines

  • The sooner you complain the sooner we can put things right for you.
  • Small complaints can be dealt with more quickly than big ones.
  • Complaints can help us improve our service –but so can compliments!
  • Complaints should be based on our customer standards –if we say we aim to replyto letters within 5 working days please don’t make a complaint if you had not had areply sooner than that.
  • We are unable to respond to complaints which relate to events which took placemore than six months previously.
  • Complaints should be specific – they should relate to a particular incident or patternof incidents.

How to make a complaint

Step one – verbal

Complainant

Contact the ECVS team member working with you. State clearly why you are unhappy with the service you have been given or why youfeel we have not met our agreed customer standards.

ECVS Team Member

Establish:

What the complaint is about – this should be specific and detailed.

What the complainant would like to change or improve. This should be specific andhave a clear time-scale and be agreed by both the complainant and the teammember.

At this point the team member should record the complaint and the agreedaction and pass this record to their line manager.

Complaints about the Chief Executive should be sent to the ECVS Chair of Trustees within 3 working days of their receipt by Ealing CVS. The Chair will then investigate and respond to the complainant within a further 10 working days.

Step Two – In writing

If, following step one, the complainant and team member cannot reach an agreement onhow to respond to the complaint and what needs to change, the complainant may submit aformal complaint in writing or by e-mail to the ECVS Chief Executive (using the ECVScomplaints form below) who will then ask the relevant line manager to consider thecomplaint.

The complainant should write down:

what the complaint you are making is

details in support of your complaint (e.g. when it happened, who was involved andany written evidence such as correspondence or e-mails)

what you feel would be an acceptable remedy and a time-scale to achieve this

The line manager should:

inform the complainant that their complaint has been received

discuss the issue with the team member concerned and the complainant

inform the complainant and team member concerned within 10 working days of theprogress of their complaint or inform the complainant that the complaint is notrecognised as falling within the ECVS complaints procedure and the reasons forthis

within 20 working days, write to the complainant and team member (with a copy tothe Chief Executive) of the outcome of the complaint and if the complaint is upheldwhat action ECVS intends to take in response

Step Three - Appeal

Should the complainant still feel that their complaint has not been properly investigated,they may submit their original complaint plus the grounds for asserting that the matter isunresolved to the Chief Executive.

The Chief Executive will consider the matter and may choose to discuss it further with theline manager, team member and complainant. The Chief Executive also has discretion ifnecessary to refer the complaint to the Chair of Trustees.

The Chief Executive will then reply to the complainant within 10 working days on theoutcome of the appeal. At that stage the decision by ECVS in relation to the complaint isfinal.

If the appeal relates to a complaint regarding the Chief Executive the complainant shouldsubmit their request to the ECVS Chair who will then ask a panel of 2 Trustees to considerthe appeal and reply to the complainant within 10 working days.

Complaints about volunteers

  • The Volunteer Centre Manager will explain to the volunteer that a complaint has been made and follow the Volunteer Problem Solving Procedure.
  • After the oral discussion with the volunteer and the agreed review period, the Volunteer Centre Manager will inform the complainant of the outcome of the complaint and of any changes made as a result.
  • The complainant will be asked to acknowledge that their complaint has been dealt with within 15 working days of receipt of the Volunteer Centre Manager writing to them on the outcome of their complaint.
  • The Volunteer Centre Manager will keep the Chief Executive informed throughout.
  • Should the complaint need to be escalated to stage 2, the Volunteer Centre Manager will inform the complainant.
  • Should any complaint remain unresolved after eight weeks (40 working days) of the initial formal complaint,the Chief Executive will take steps to resolve the matter with the complainant and the Volunteer Centre Manager and shall inform the Board of Trustees of Ealing CVS.
  • Complaints about an ECVS Trustee should be sent to the Chair of Trustees, (or the Vice-Chair, inthe event of a complaint about the Chair) and may be passed to the Chief Executive toinvestigate.

Compliments Procedure

We like to know when we have done well and exceeded our service users expectationsbecause:

  • it recognises the service we provide
  • it means we are meeting our service users’ needs
  • it helps us to build on good practice and maintain high standards in future.

If you want to pay a member of staff, trustee or volunteer a compliment:

we can and do accept verbal compliments!

you can write, email or send a card to tell us we have done well.

If you think we have done exceptionally well you can write to or email our Chair ofTrustees - we can pass on a message on your behalf.

There are others ways of complimenting us which we cannot accept because they areagainst our code of conduct and equal opportunities policy, these are:

  • Presents, which we might be able to sell to another person.
  • Money, gifts or gift tokens.
  • Personal invitations to meals or other hospitality.

Approved by Ealing CVS Board:

Ealing CVS Complaint Form

Please read the Ealing CVS Complaints and Compliments Procedure before completing this form

Please give as much information as you can

If returning this form by post, please mark FAO: The Chief Executive

Please write clearly, or fill the form in electronically

Your details
Title
First name
Surname or last name
Organisation (if relevant)
Job title (if relevant)
Address (line 1)
Address (line 1)
Address (line 1)
Postcode
Day time telephone number
Evening telephone number
Mobile number
Email address
Please tell us briefly what your complaint is about, the date of the incident and why you feel we have
not provided a high quality of service

Have you contacted an ECVS staff member about the incident? Yes/ No

Name of staff member contacted______

Date you contacted the staff member______

If you contacted a member of staff, what was the outcome?
Please add any information regarding your complaint and what action you would like Ealing CVS to undertake

Please return your complaint form to Andy Roper, Chief Executive, Ealing CVS, Lido Centre, West Ealing W13 9LA or e-mail it to

If your complaint is regarding the Chief Executive please return your complaint form to Angela Bell,ECVS Chair c/o Ealing CVS, Lido Centre, West Ealing W13 9LA