Giving fair and accountable responses
An effective complaint handling system enables staff to give a fair and balanced account of what happened and the conclusions they have reached. Organisations openly identify instances when things have gone wrong, or where services have had an unfair impact, and take responsibility for these. They make sure staff can offer a range of ways to put things right for the individual. Staff also look at what action will be taken to learn from the experience to continuously improve services and help support staff.
- Staff give a clear, balanced account of what happened based on established facts. Each account compares what happened with what should have happened. It clearly references any relevant legislation, standards, policies or guidance, based on objective criteria.
- In more complex cases, staff make sure they share their initial views on a complaint with everybody involved and give people the opportunity to respond. Staff take any comments into account in their final response to the complaint.
- Organisations support and encourage staff to be open and honest when things have gone wrong or where improvements can be made. Staff recognise the need to be accountable for their actions and to identify what learning can be taken from a complaint. They are clear about how the learning will be used to improve services and support staff.
- Wherever possible, staff explain why things went wrong and identify suitable ways to put things right for people. Staff give meaningful and sincere apologies and explanations that openly reflect the impact on the people concerned.
- Organisations empower staff to identify suitable and appropriate ways to put things right for people who raise a complaint. They provide guidance and resources to make sure any proposed action to put things right is consistent.
- Organisations make sure people are kept involved and updated on how the organisation is taking forward all learning or improvements relevant to their complaint.
- For complaints that involve multiple organisations, the lead organisation provides a single response to the complaint. This includes what the other organisations have done to look into the issues and the conclusions they reached. Where necessary, the response clearly explains how each organisation will remedy any mistakes it made.
- Staff make sure they tell people about their right to complain to the Ombudsman if they are not satisfied with the written final response at the end of the organisation’s complaint process.