We take the job of supporting victims and witnesses very seriously and pride ourselves on the number of people who say they are satisfied with the help we’ve given them. But, like every organisation, we can sometimes get it wrong, and some people can be less happy about their experience with our charity.

If you are unhappy with the service we’ve given you, we would like to hear from you – whether it’s simply to let us know you’re dissatisfied or if you’d like us to go further and take action to put things right.

We have a standard complaints process that we will follow in every case. We will aim to treat you with respect and courtesy throughout and keep you informed about what we are doing. The process is designed to:

• Be fair and transparent
• Resolve any complaint quickly and effectively
• Help us improve our services in the future
• Be clear and easy to understand and access
• Provide timely and accurate information
• Be confidential

 

How we handle complaints and issues

You can raise an issue or complaint over the phone, or by letter or by e-mail. Please see the “Contact Details” section of the website for numbers and addresses. Normally we will only deal with complaints within six months of when a problem occurred or came to light. We will keep a record of every complaint or issue raised and quickly let you know we have received your complaint (usually within five working days). If you have any special needs, we will do all we can to make it easy for you to make a complaint or help you through the process.

As a first step, we will try to resolve an issue informally. This will usually be handled by the General Manager and we aim to resolve things within ten working days of hearing from you. If you are happy with our response at this stage, the process will end.

If you are not happy with this initial attempt to resolve things, the matter will be passed to our board of directors as a formal complaint. At this stage we will need you to put your complaint in writing, if you haven’t already done so. We will acknowledge your formal complaint within five working days and then write to you within twenty-one working days of to advise you of progress.
You may be asked to give further information at this stage. We will keep you informed about progress and will write to you to tell you the outcome as soon as possible. Any decision made about your complaint by the board of directors will be final.