Complaints

Baron Davenport’s Charity aims to maintain high standards in all that we do but recognise that we can sometimes get things wrong, despite our best intentions.

The Charity views a complaint as an opportunity to put things right for the person making the complaint, as well as a chance to improve the service we offer. We would not be able to do so or learn for the future if we did not receive feedback when things go wrong. Therefore, we value and take seriously any feedback we receive.

Generally, the purpose of this Complaints Handling Policy is to resolve disputes informally without resorting to formal investigation or legal proceedings. We will try to explore every reasonable option to resolve complaints by working with the person making the complaint to agree an outcome which is satisfactory to them and the Charity.

Whether a complaint is justified or not, our reply will describe the action we have taken to investigate the complaint, conclusions we have reached as a result of the investigation, and any action we have taken or are taking as a result of your complaint.

We will ensure that all information received and produced in connection with a complaint is treated as confidential and handled sensitively, that only those who need to know have access to that information, and that relevant data protection requirements are all met.

All complaint information is passed promptly to an appropriate Trustee and is reported on to the Trustees at the next Trustees’ meeting.

• Complaint
• Where complaints may come from
• Complaints which cannot be dealt with under this Policy
• How to make a complaint

Complaint

A ‘complaint’ in this Policy means any expression of dissatisfaction in relation to Baron Davenport’s Charity that requires a response from us.

Where complaints may come from

Complaints may come from beneficiaries, referrers or any other person or organisation who or which has a legitimate interest in the Charity.

Complaints which cannot be dealt with under this Policy

This Policy is only for the above type of external complaint, not for complaints or grievances from employees or Trustees.

Whilst complainants are generally entitled to receive responses to a complaint and to challenge any responses received from the Charity, it will not deal with complaints or challenges where in the reasonable opinion of an appropriate Trustee they amount to persistent, habitual or vexatious complaints or challenges.

The Charity expects any complainant to be polite and courteous. It will not tolerate aggressive, abusive or unreasonable behaviour or demands.

How to make a complaint

First Stage

If you have a complaint you can contact us by phone, email, or post.

To help us investigate and address all complaints, we ask you to provide us with as much information as possible. This should cover:

• The reason for your complaint
• When what you are complaining about happened
• The name(s) of anyone involved (if known)
• What outcome you are hoping for (but we are not obliged to resolve the complaint in that way)
• Your contact details (name, address, daytime telephone number and/or email address).

Who you should contact within the Charity will depend on how you decide to make contact, and on whom you wish to make a complaint about. We have indicated below whom you can contact.

Verbal complaints

You can make a complaint by telephone in any of the following ways, during office hours.

If your complaint is about our service or any employee or a Trustee, you can phone us on 0121 236 8004 and ask to speak to the Charity Administrator. They will either speak to you about the complaint or, if they are not the appropriate person to do so, they will arrange for the appropriate person to speak to you on the phone. Alternatively, you can speak (or arrange to speak) in person to the appropriate person about your complaint.

If you do not feel that you can approach any of the above verbally for any reason, you can write to us instead.

Complaints in writing

If you would prefer to write to us, please send your complaint to us as follows:

Either by letter marked Private and Confidential and addressed as follows:

The Charity Administrator or Chair [1]
Baron Davenport’s Charity
5/7 Temple Row West
Birmingham
B2 5NY

or by email to the Charity Administrator at kslater@barondavenportscharity.org or the Chair at wcolacicchi@barondavenportscharity.org.

Once that person has initially received your complaint, we will normally deal with it as follows:

¹To the Chair if you prefer that the Charity Administrator does not deal with it in the first instance

Timescales for all First Stage complaints made by phone or in writing

We will try to resolve the problem as quickly as possible but if we cannot do this (for example, if we need to investigate further), we will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five working days.

Our acknowledgement will inform you of when we will next contact you either with a proposed resolution or update. It will also inform you of the name of the person dealing with your complaint. That person will investigate and deal with it and then respond to you with their definitive reply.

You should receive that definitive reply within four weeks. If this is not possible because, for example, an investigation has not been fully completed, a progress report will be sent with an indication of when a full reply will be given.

Second stage

If, for any reason, you are not happy with the resolution of your complaint under the First Stage procedure outlined above, you can bring this to our attention as follows:

Please address a letter marked Private and Confidential to:

The Chair
Baron Davenport’s Charity
5/7 Temple Row West
Birmingham
B2 5NY

or alternatively, please email the Charity at wcolacicchi@barondavenportscharity.org.

Please set out clearly the details of the complaint, explaining why you were not satisfied with our response under the First Stage and what you would like us to do to put things right.

The Charity Administrator or Chair will send an acknowledgment within 5 working days and arrange for either the Chair or another Trustee to investigate your complaint and respond with a definitive reply within a further 10 working days.

Third stage

If you are still not satisfied with our response and wish to take your complaint further, please inform the Chair within 28 days of receiving the definitive reply we sent to you under the Second Stage. Please contact him by letter or email as required for the Second Stage (as above).

Your case will then be passed to a panel of at least two Trustees (not including any Trustee about whom the complaint was made or the Trustee who investigated and responded to you under the Second Stage). The panel will further investigate your complaint and will contact you with their conclusions and any actions to be taken.

You can expect this to take a further 10 working days from the date on which we receive your letter or email request to implement the Third Stage.

Follow up

In order for us to make improvements to the Charity and its services, we may wish to contact you within a month of your complaint being dealt with in order to check that you were satisfied with our resolution. Any information you give will only be used to make improvements to the Charity and its services.

Taking your complaint outside Baron Davenport’s Charity

Charity Commission

If your complaint is about any aspect of our charitable work other than our services, you may wish to contact the Charity Commission. However, we suggest that, before you do so, you consider whether it is appropriate to contact the Commission in the first instance rather than ourselves. The Commission has guidance on its website as to when to direct complaints to a charity and not to the Commission. Their contact details are:

Charity Commission Direct, PO Box 1227, Liverpool, L69 3UG
Tel: 0845 300 0218
Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-charities

Other Authorities

The Charity Commission's guidance to the public states that:

• if you believe there is criminal activity within a charity, you should inform the police
• if you suspect fraud connected to a charity, you should report it using the Action Fraud Online Reporting Service at http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud or call 0300 123 2040
• if you have information about possible terrorist activity connected to a charity, you should report it to the Anti-terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.