Aspire 2 Success are committed to providing high quality services to our membership and members of the public who use the Company’s services or engage with us. We value complaints and use information learnt from them to help us improve what we do and how we do it. If something goes wrong or you are dissatisfied with what we are providing, please tell us – you should feel free to raise matters of concern without risk of disadvantage. This document describes our complaint procedure and how to make a complaint.

What is a complaint?

We regard a complaint as any expression of dissatisfaction about our action or lack of action, or about the standard of service provided by us or on our behalf.

What can I complain about?

You can complain about things like:

• the quality and standard of any service we provide;
• failure to provide a service;
• the quality of our facilities or resources;
• unfair treatment or inappropriate behaviour by a staff member or someone representing the Company;
• the failure of the Company to follow an appropriate process;
• dissatisfaction with Company policies;

Your complaint may involve more than one aspect of the above, more than one department, or be about someone working on our behalf.

What you can’t complain about?

There are some things we can’t deal with through our complaint handling procedure. These include:

• a request under Freedom of Information or Data Protection legislation;
• a request for information or an explanation of policy or practice;
• an issue which is being, or has been, considered by a court or tribunal;
• a request for compensation only;

An attempt to have a complaint reconsidered where we have already given our final decision following an investigation.

We will not normally treat information received through routine feedback mechanisms – such as responses to questionnaires – as complaints.

If other procedures or rights of appeal may help you resolve your concerns, we will give information and advice to help you.

Who can complain?

Anyone who receives, requests or is directly affected by the services of the Company can make a complaint to us. We encourage anyone with a complaint to approach us directly but can accept a complaint made on your behalf (e.g. through a friend or a family member) provided you give us your clear written authority to liaise with your representative, and provided you also give them clear authority to act on your behalf.

How do I complain?

You can complain in person, by phone, in writing, or by email. It is easier for us to resolve complaints if you raise them as soon as you become aware of the issue, and directly to the service concerned. Please talk to a member of staff within the department you are complaining about so that they can try to resolve any problems on the spot.

When complaining, please tell us:

• your full name and address;
• as much as you can about the complaint and what has gone wrong;
• how you would like us to resolve the matter.

Alternatively, please use the form at the end of this document.

Is there a time limit for making a complaint?

Normally, you must make your complaint within six months of:

• the issue arising, or
• finding out that you have a reason to complain.

In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to accept a complaint after the time limit. If you feel that the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please tell us why.

What will happen if I complain?

Our complaint procedure has two stages:
Stage 1 – Frontline Resolution - We aim to resolve complaints quickly and close to where we provided the service. This could mean an on-the-spot apology and explanation if something has clearly gone wrong, and immediate action to resolve the problem. Where possible, you should raise your concerns with the relevant staff member. This can be done face-to-face, by phone, in writing or by email.

We will give you our decision at Stage 1 within five working days unless there are exceptional circumstances. Our response will:

• clearly outline our decision providing clear, evidence based reasons for this decision;
• Respond openly to all of the substantive points raised by a complainant and explaining why the organisation considers these points justified or not;
• Take responsibility for the actions of our staff and those acting on behalf of the organisation;
• Acknowledge if things have gone wrong and take proportionate action to put things right, including apologising where appropriate;
• Include any lesson learnt and any changes made to services, guidance or policy as a result of the complaint.

If you are not satisfied with the response we give at this stage, we will tell you what you can do next. If you choose to, you can take your complaint to Stage 2 of the complaint procedure. You may choose to do this immediately or shortly after you get our initial decision.

Stage 2 – Complaint Investigation - Deals with two types of complaint: those that have not been resolved at Stage 1 and those that are complex and require detailed investigation. We have a complaint form, see below, which will help you to state your complaint clearly to us. Although we will also accept complaints that are made in person or on the phone, we encourage you to complete the complaint form in the interests of clarity and in order to best assist the investigation process. The complaint form and any supporting documents will be seen by the person investigating your complaint, by anyone named in the complaint and by relevant staff in the department(s) being complained about.

When using Stage 2 we will:

• acknowledge receipt of your complaint within three working days and tell you who is dealing with your complaint;
• discuss your complaint with you to understand why you remain dissatisfied and what outcome you are looking for;
• give you a full response to the complaint as soon as possible and within 20 working days.

If our investigation will take longer than 20 working days, we will tell you. We will agree revised time limits with you and keep you updated on progress.

What if I’m still dissatisfied?

After we have fully investigated, if you are still dissatisfied with our decision or the way we dealt with your complaint, Complaints made against qualified practitioners should be made to the organisation they are a member or accredited to:
UKCP https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/registers-standards/complaints/

BACP https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-us/protecting-the-public/professional-conduct/

Getting help to make your complaint

We are committed to making our service easy to use. In line with our statutory equalities duties, we will always ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to help you access and use our services.

For a quick guide to our complaint procedure, please see the summarised diagram.

Complaints Reporting Proforma Information for all complainants

If you have a complaint about a matter which is the responsibility of the Company, and it has not been possible to informally resolve this via front line resolution please complete the form overleaf to enable us to investigate your complaint.

If you have relevant documentary evidence to support your complaint, it should be submitted with this form. Evidence submitted should be as concise as possible and relevant to the complaint. Unreasonable quantities of evidence or evidence which is deemed not to be relevant to your complaint may not be considered. Investigation of your complaint will not commence until you confirm that your supporting documentation is complete; please see Section 3 of the form.

The complaint form and any supporting documents will be seen by the person investigating your complaint, by anyone named in the complaint and by relevant staff in the department(s) being complained about.

Once completed, this form should be submitted by email to complaints@aspire2success.co.uk