ASEND - Complaints Policy

1. Purpose of this Policy

This policy is in place to establish a proper course of action should a complaint be received against Asend, one of its employees, workers or volunteers, or any third party being represented by Asend, or by an employee, worker or volunteer against Asend.

Any person or young person who receives the advertised services of Asend, who wishes to file a complaint, should also refer to and use the following Complaints Procedures.

2. We define a complaint as:

“an expression of discontent or dissatisfaction about something that Asend or someone acting on behalf of Asend, has done, whether, in the eyes of the complainant, it is justified or not.”

3. We are committed to making sure that:

If any young person, client or third party to whom we are providing a service, feels unsafe, unsupported, at risk or unfairly treated or has a general issue of any sort, that they have clear and free access to someone who will listen and be their advocate.

All employees follow our Code of Conduct which outlines the Behaviour Policy we all abide by, in order that the possibility of complaints against Asend are mitigated.

All complainants are made aware that, if they feel discontent or dissatisfaction at the service we provide, we will make clear;

• Who they can go to with a problem

• That their complaint will be heard without prejudice and will receive a fair review

4. The Process for Complaining

Should someone wish to make a complaint as defined in the section entitled “Purpose of this Document”, they are free to do so either, or both:

• Internally and directly to Asend

• Externally to one of their support network, including, but not limited to, the Local Authority, the Foster Carer or Social Worker, who have the opportunity to feed the complaint back to Asend

We encourage all complaints to be made, in the first instance, internally and directly to Asend such that we have the opportunity to resolve the complaint as quickly and effectively as possible in line with our internal procedures for dealing with complaints.

5. Complaints – Internal Procedure

All employees, workers or volunteers, or any one third party which represents Asend should be aware of the process by which someone can submit an internal complaint. The process should follow:

1. If possible, the complaint should be heard and addressed by the person(s) representing Asend, there and then.

2. If the complaint cannot be addressed presently, the complaint should be passed to a member of the central team at Asend.

3. Where possible, a member of the central team will resolve the complaint within 7 working days.

4. If the complainant wants to make a formal complaint which cannot be resolved by either the original person(s) representing Asend or central team within 7 working days, the representative should ask the complainant to document their complaint in writing.

5. This written complaint should then be passed to Senior Management immediately.

6. Senior Management will do their utmost to resolve the complaint within a further 7-day working period. Where necessary, if the complaint cannot be resolved by Senior Management, the complainant should look to external sources to get a second opinion on the complaint.

7. If any of the complaints contain anything which could be considered a child protection issue, it must be raised to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) immediately. The DSL will then make contact with the relevant Local Authority Safeguarding Team in line with our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.

6. Complaints – External Procedure

Should a complaint be unresolved internally, either due to the nature of the complaint or the dissatisfaction of the outcome by the complainant, the complainant should make this known to an external party, including, but not limited to their:

• Parent(s)

• Social worker(s)

• Foster carer(s)

• Local Authority

• Line Manager (if the complaint is by an employee, worker or volunteer about Asend)

External complaints will follow this process:

1. A complaint is made to a relevant third party, including, but not limited to, the parties above.

2. Asend will hear and address all complaints passed onto us by any relevant party to whom the complainant has addressed externally to our internal complaints procedure.

3. The complaint will be passed straight to Senior Management who will do their utmost to resolve the complaint within a further 7-day working period.

4. As per our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, if any of the complaints contain anything which could be considered a child protection issue, it must be raised to the DSL immediately. The DSL will then make contact with the relevant Local Authority Safeguarding Team and follow their local Safeguarding procedures concurrently with our own Safeguarding policies.

Asend recognises the lawful rights of employees and ex-employees to make disclosures to prescribed persons or body (e.g. the Health and Safety Executive). A full list of prescribed people and bodies can be found on Gov.uk.

7. Review

This policy is reviewed every twelve months.