POLICY TITLE Complaints Procedure (External Users)

REVIEW CYCLE Annually

NEXT REVIEW DATE July 2012

PERSON(S) RESPONSIBLE Head of Customer Services (SLAs)

APPROVING BODY Board of Trustees (Advised by the Chief Executive)

PURPOSE The purpose of this policy is to agree procedures to address and act on the complaints of external users.

NEWTEC is committed to providing the best possible services to all its users regardless of their disability, race, sex or sexual orientation.  If NEWTEC is to be successful in achieving this aim, it is important that you feel able to express dissatisfaction and have confidence that your complaint will receive prompt and appropriate attention.

The complaints procedure is therefore part of NEWTEC’s ongoing commitment to the fundamental principles of equality of opportunity and the pursuit of excellence. It enables all users to register any dissatisfaction they may have regarding the service they receive.

If you feel that you have been unfairly treated, it is best to try and sort out problems at an early stage by talking to the person concerned.  Should you wish to take the matter further or make a formal complaint about any of NEWTEC services, you are invited to fill in a NEWTEC complaint form and return it to the Head of Customer Services (SLAs).  You have the right to have your request for confidentiality respected where appropriate.

You will receive an acknowledgement of your letter within 10 days of your complaint.

FORMAL COMPLAINTS FORM

If you feel that you have been unfairly treated, it is best to try and sort out problems at an early stage by talking to the person concerned.  Should you wish to take the matter further or make a formal complaint about any of NEWTEC services, you are invited to complete this form.

Please outline the nature of your complaint in the space below:

 1. Date of this Complaint/Date of Incident

_______________________________\__________________________________

2.           Name of complainant

_________________________________________________________________

(This does not have to be provided if the complainant wishes to remain anonymous, but it must be recognised that in the absence of a name, it will not be possible for NEWTEC to provide direct feedback or response).

3.           Details of Complaint

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please return this form marked Private & Confidential to the Head of Customer Services (SLAs)