hELP, aDVICE AND SERVICES Complaints PROCEDURE

This procedure covers complaints about the standard of service we provide, the behaviour of our staff and any action or lack of action by staff.

All comments are appreciated, helping us to understand how people experience our services, to learn from and improve for the future.

We can only accept complaints in writing: Email: help@cfcs.org.uk or post to: Help, Advice and Services Team, Charity for Civil Servants, 5 Anne Boleyn’s Walk, Cheam, Surrey SM3 8DY.

Your complaint must be received within 3 calendar months of the issue occurring. We send you an acknowledgement within 5 working days of receiving it. We will access any relevant data, and may require further information to carry out a review. We will access any recorded data that was used to process your request/application on the basis of necessary data to understand the complaint and how your request was dealt with.

Procedure

Stage 1: We refer your complaint to the first level of management within Help, Advice and Services who will carry out a review. If your request was for financial or other help, advice or services we consider whether the process and decision followed our policy and procedures.

We communicate the outcome with you within 20 working days and record the complaint on our database. The Director of Help, Advice and Services looks at all complaints and they are also reviewed during the regular monthly Board of Trustee verification check.

Stage 2: If you feel dissatisfied with the outcome, let us know by email or in writing. We must receive this within two weeks of our communication about the outcome. We will then escalate your complaint to a member, or members, of the Charity’s Senior Management Team. You may be invited to provide any additional evidence to support your complaint within 10 working days.

We will carry out a second review and communicate the outcome with you within 20 working days (plus up to 10 days if we required further information), and record the outcome on our database.

Stage 3: If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Stage 2 review, we escalate the complaint to our Charity’s Board of Trustees. Following this final review, we communicate the outcome to you within 20 working days and record the details on our database. We will advise you that you have reached the end of the process and the Board’s decision is final.

At any stage of the complaints procedure, issues may arise which have a bearing on the Charity’s Policy, or its procedures. Where this is the case, we take account of the issues raised and, where appropriate, refer to the Board of Trustees so that amendment to Policy and/or procedures can be considered. 

Updated September 2024