Complaints Policy

Sensory Services by Sight for Surrey are committed to providing a high standard of service to everyone we support. However, we understand that sometimes things may not go as expected. When this happens, we want to know.

We take all complaints seriously and view them as an opportunity to learn, improve, and ensure we continue delivering the quality of service you deserve. This page explains how you can raise a concern, how we will handle your complaint, and the steps we will take to resolve the issue fairly and promptly. 

Our aim is to make the process clear, simple, and transparent. If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service, we encourage you to let us know so we can work with you to put things right.

This policy is designed to provide a means by which the people we support or their representatives may make observations about services provided by Sensory Services by Sight for Surrey (the Charity). Complaints should be regarded as an aid to improvement of services and to quality control.

Complaints are likely to fall into one of the following categories:

1. Dissatisfaction with the quality or quantity of service
2. Delay in the delivery of service
3. Refusal or inability to provide a service

Every attempt should be made to explain clearly to the complainant and to help him/her to understand why circumstances do not meet with his/her approval. A complaint may be made in any format; if the complaint is made verbally, the complainant should be asked whether he/she wishes the comments to be regarded as a formal complaint; the wording or exact meaning of the complaint should be carefully recorded.

The following steps must be followed:

1. If a comment is made that is not pursued as a formal complaint, the person dealing should consider whether a note of the comment and his/her response should be made for the appropriate file
2. Where a formal complaint is made, in whatever format, a response should be made within five working days of receipt of the complaint
3. Every attempt should be made to resolve the issue in the initial response; if this is not possible, the initial response may be an acknowledgement but must contain a statement that a full response will be sent within a further ten working days
4. If a complaint is made verbally, the response may be given verbally, but the officer should consider carefully, for his/her own benefit, whether a written reply should also be sent so that there is no misunderstanding about what is being said; if a written reply is not sent, a full note must be made of the complaint and reply
5. When a complaint is made in writing it may in certain circumstances be appropriate to discuss the terms of a reply verbally, but a written response should then be sent. (The reply should be sent in the complainant’s preferred format.)
6. If the response as above does not satisfy the complainant or if the initial complaint is of a serious or substantial nature, the issue must be referred to the Chief Executive or his immediate deputies; the timescale for response will be as above: a response within five working days or initial response within five days and full reply within a further ten working days
7. A complainant shall have the right of appeal to the Charity’s Board of Trustees; for this purpose, the complaint will be referred to an Appeals Sub-Committee comprising:

Chairman*

Another member of the Board of Trustees

and either

A representative of Surrey County Council (for any complaint about an issue within the remit of the contracted service)

Or

A third member of the Board of Trustees

*The Chairman will nominate another representative if he/she has already been consulted about the complaint before it reaches the appeal stage

NOTES

 All correspondence relating to a complaint will normally be kept on a personal or policy file, but the Charity will keep a record of all complaints for inspection by authorised officers of Surrey County Council (SCC). The complaints log will be held by the Head of HR and Internal Operations.

1. The Charity will co-operate with any independent advocacy service.
2. In line with SCC, when the complaint is finalised, the following paragraph will be added to complaint responses: “Further to this response, I would now like to confirm that we are treating your complaint as closed. I hope this concludes your complaint to your satisfaction.  However, if it does not, please contact our Chief Executive by email at feedback@sightforsurrey.org.uk or by telephone on 01372 377701.