Complaints Policy and Procedure
Complaints Policy and Procedure
Handling complaints: policy and procedure
Policy statement
Harrogate District Foodbank is committed to working in an open and accountable way that
secures the trust and respect of stakeholders, and as such recognises the role of an effective
complaints policy in fostering transparency, fairness, and a culture of continuous
improvement.
Philosophy
The Trust undertakes to ensure that:
● Making a complaint is as straightforward as possible.
● Complaints are dealt with promptly, courteously, and discreetly – confidentially when
appropriate.
● We will respond decisively with an explanation, an apology where we have been at
fault, or information on the outcome.
● We will learn from complaints and use them to make improvements in the way we
work.
We hope that the majority of complaints can be dealt with informally, but in cases in
which the formal procedure is more appropriate, we request that they are submitted in
the following format:
● In writing, addressed FAO the Complaints Officer at Harrogate District Foodbank, Life
Destiny Church, 93B High Street, Starbeck, HG2 7LH, or by email to
[email protected] with ‘Complaint’ in the subject line.
● It should include a full explanation of the problem, how it occurred, and the effect on
you.
● Describe what you think we should do to put things right.
We will deal with your complaint as follows:
1. We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receipt and provide
you with the name of the person responsible for investigating the matter on your
behalf.
2. The person responsible for the investigation will write to you with their findings and
proposed resolution within twenty eight days from receipt of the complaint*.
Complaints Policy and Procedure
3. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation you may appeal: letters
must be received within twenty one working days of the date on the correspondence
notifying you of the outcome of the first investigation.
4. The complaint will be reinvestigated and you will be informed of the outcome within
10 working days*.
* unless the complaint is particularly complex or time-consuming, in which case you will be
kept informed of the progress of the investigation and notified of the expected date of
completion.
Other information
Complaints about staff behaviour or attitude will be handled by the line manager of the
staff member or volunteer in question, and in accordance with the disciplinary procedure if
appropriate. You will not be given details of the action we have taken as such information is
confidential.
If you wish to make a complaint anonymously or do not provide contact details, then we
will treat it as a comment and will be unable to advise you of the outcome of the
investigation.
If your complaint contains abusive or offensive language, then we reserve the right to not
respond. We reserve the right to report any such communication to the Police.
Please be aware that during the investigation of any complaint, consideration will be given
as to whether Harrogate District Foodbank has a duty to report the matter to a relevant
regulator, such as the Fundraising Regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office, the
Charity Commission for England and Wales. Where appropriate, complaints will be
escalated to one of these bodies.
Complaints Policy and Procedure
Data Privacy Statement
We collate and analyse data about complaints so that we can improve the services we
provide. We will collect personal information including your name and contact details,
including postal address, telephone number, email address and social media contact
information, in order to be able to communicate with you about your complaint. We will
also collect sufficient information about the situation that you are contacting us about to be
able to understand what has happened. We may need to request further information
depending on the nature of your complaint. We have a legitimate interest in holding this
information in order to be able to monitor and improve our services.
Information gathered is accessed by Trussell Trust employees and may be shared with
advice agencies or professional services firms only if appropriate, for example if your
complaint relates to safeguarding and we seek guidance as to next steps. Where a
complaint involves a food bank in our network, we may need to share this information with
that food bank in order to understand what has happened and determine a resolution.
We keep this information for 2 years after your complaint has been closed, unless we have a
requirement to keep it longer, in which case we will inform you of this. After this time the
data will be aggregated and anonymised.
Complaints Policy and Procedure
For completeness, the following policy and procedure from The Trussell Trust is included
here.
Handling complaints made to The Trussell Trust against a Foodbank
Policy statement
The Trussell Trust is committed to working in an open and accountable way that secures the
trust and respect of stakeholders, and as such recognises the role of an effective complaints
policy in fostering transparency, fairness, and a culture of continuous improvement.
Food banks in the Trussell Trust network are independent charities, not part of the Trussell
Trust itself. Complaints against food banks should therefore be dealt with at a local level
wherever possible. Please note that the Trussell Trust will need to share your details, and
the details of the complaint with the food bank, unless you state in writing that you remain
anonymous.
Philosophy
The Trust undertakes to ensure that:
● Complaints about food banks received by the Trussell Trust in writing are dealt with
promptly, courteously, fairly and discreetly.
● Food banks are informed as fully as possible about the nature and detail of the
complaint, subject to the degree of confidentiality requested by the complainant.
● Reasonable efforts are made to determine the facts affecting the complaint from
both the complainant and the food bank.
● We will respond decisively to the complainant with an explanation of our actions, an
apology where this is appropriate, or information on the outcome of our contact with
the food bank within 28 days of receipt of the complaint.
● We will help food banks, the network and ourselves to learn from complaints and use
them to make improvements in the ways we work.
We will deal with the complaint as follows:
1. We will acknowledge the complaint within five working days of receipt and provide
the complainant with the name of the Trussell Trust officer responsible for
investigating the matter.
Complaints Policy and Procedure
2. The person responsible for the investigation will contact the food bank within a
following five working days to notify them of the complaint and enquire into the facts
surrounding it.
3. They will write to the complainant with their findings and proposed actions or
resolution within 28 working days of the complaint being received*.
4. Where the food bank has acted fully in accordance with expected standards and
procedures, the complainant will be advised of this and advised that the Trussell Trust
has no reason to be further involved.
5. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation and they
appeal within 21 days of receiving the first response, then the investigation may be
reopened or it may be restated that the food bank has acted properly, as the
investigating Trussell Trust officer judges appropriate.
* unless the complaint is particularly complex or time-consuming, in which case they will be
kept informed of the progress of the investigation and notified of the expected date of
completion.
Trussell Trust Data Privacy Statement
We collate and analyse data about complaints so that we can improve the services we
provide. We will collect personal information including your name and contact details,
including postal address, telephone number, email address and social media contact
information, in order to be able to communicate with you about your complaint. We will
also collect sufficient information about the situation that you are contacting us about to be
able to understand what has happened. We may need to request further information
depending on the nature of your complaint. We have a legitimate interest in holding this
information in order to be able to monitor and improve our services.
Information gathered is accessed by Trussell Trust employees and may be shared with
advice agencies or professional services firms only if appropriate, for example if your
complaint relates to safeguarding and we seek guidance as to next steps. Where a
complaint involves a food bank in our network, we may need to share this information with
that food bank in order to understand what has happened and determine a resolution.
We keep this information for 2 years after your complaint has been closed, unless we have a
requirement to keep it longer, in which case we will inform you of this. After this time the
data will be aggregated and anonymised.
V1.2 Last reviewed October 2024