Complaints and Feedback Policy

Thrive Autism, Charity Registration Number: 1215310

Executive Summary

Thrive Autism identifies this Complaints and Feedback Policy as a fundamental mechanism for driving service excellence and quality improvement. Effective management of feedback is critical to ensuring the safety of service users, maintaining high standards of care, and protecting the organisation’s reputation.

Thrive Autism acknowledges that the complaints process can be stressful for all parties involved. To mitigate this, the organisation maintains a non-adversarial, open, and honest culture. The primary focus of this policy is a strategic shift from a culture of blame to one of resolution and continuous learning. By integrating feedback with risk management and governance frameworks, Thrive Autism ensures that identified shortcomings lead to immediate corrective actions and that lessons learned are shared across the organisation to improve the overall experience for those we serve.

1. Introduction

1.1 Mission and Purpose

Thrive Autism is a charitable company dedicated to the relief of persons suffering from chronic or terminal illness, disability, or infirmity, and the families of such persons. This policy provides a comprehensive framework for receiving, investigating, and resolving concerns, complaints, and compliments regarding all services provided by the organisation.

1.2 Core Principles

The aims of this policy are to:

• Resolve concerns and complaints at the point of contact whenever possible.
• Identify training and development needs for employees and volunteers.
• Improve service quality and identify systemic risks rather than apportioning individual blame.
• Ensure a resolution that satisfies the complainant while maintaining scrupulous fairness toward staff and volunteers.

1.3 Policy Objectives

Thrive Autism adheres to six core objectives in feedback management:

1. Resolution: Achieving a satisfactory conclusion for every concern or complaint.
2. Sensitivity and Efficiency: Handling all feedback with empathy, professional efficiency, and within set timelines.
3. Risk Identification: Pinpointing areas of risk and implementing preventative measures.
4. Learning: Converting feedback outcomes into shared good practice across the charity.
5. Simple Procedure: Providing a clear and accessible process for all feedback types.
6. Fairness: Facilitating a transparent process that is equitable to both the complainant and the staff involved.

2. Scope and Eligibility

2.1 Scope

This policy applies to all employees and volunteers at Thrive Autism. This includes all service delivery areas and the charity’s retail operations.

2.2 Who Can Complain

Complaints or concerns may be raised by service users, patients, or any person affected by (or likely to be affected by) an action, omission, or decision made by Thrive Autism.

2.3 Confidentiality and Third-Party Complaints

Where a complaint is made by a third party on behalf of a service user, Thrive Autism must obtain written authorisation from the service user in the first instance. This is a mandatory requirement to ensure that confidential information is not released to a representative without explicit consent, in compliance with data protection regulations.

3. Governance and Key Responsibilities

The Board of Trustees

The Board is responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of procedures and reviewing outcomes to ensure that actions taken prevent the recurrence of identified issues.

The Chair (or Nominated Deputy)

The Chair has overarching responsibility for the fair application of this policy. In the absence of the Chair, a nominated deputy will assume these duties to ensure timelines are met. Responsibilities include:

• Signing the final formal response to complaints.
• Ensuring the complaints process adheres to the regulatory and internal policy frameworks.
• Discussing matters of extreme seriousness with the Board and referring suspected criminal offences or professional misconduct to the police or relevant professional bodies.

The Chair (or Nominated Deputy)

The Chair (or Nominated Deputy)is responsible for the full and correct implementation of this policy across the Charity, and is responsible for:

• Recording all complaints or concerns on the central logging system (DATIX or the designated organisational equivalent).
• Escalating concerns immediately Chair.
• Ensuring investigations are thorough, including root cause analysis, and conducted by an appropriate officer.
• Providing professional and personal support to staff and volunteers during the investigation.
• Ensuring that learning is cascaded to their teams and corrective actions are fully implemented.

All Employees and Volunteers

Staff are the front line of the feedback process and are responsible for:

• Resolving verbal concerns at the point of contact where possible.
• Explaining the options available to service users who wish to provide feedback.
• Ensuring all verbal feedback is recorded and reported to their line manager promptly.
• Ensuring no service user is discriminated against or receives less favourable treatment as a result of raising a concern.

4. Policy Detail: The Complaints Process

4.1 Raising Concerns and Local Resolution

Thrive Autism prioritises “local resolution” to address issues before they escalate.

• Retail Operations: Low-level retail complaints will be managed locally at the time of the occurrence with no further action required beyond logging.
• Formal Concerns: For matters requiring further attention, the charity will acknowledge the issue within 3 working days and provide a full response within 28 days.
• Extensions: If an investigation requires more than 28 days, the complainant must be informed and an extension agreed upon, stating the specific reasons for the delay.

4.2 Receipt and Acknowledgement

All feedback (verbal, telephone, email, or social media) must be logged by the relevant Manager. The Operations Manager (or a delegated Line Manager) will acknowledge the complaint within 3 working days via written correspondence or telephone contact. All complainants will be offered a face-to-face meeting to explore their concerns unless the complainant declines this option.

4.3 Consent for External Involvement

If a complaint involves external bodies (e.g., GPs, hospitals, or social services), Thrive Autism must obtain explicit written consent from the complainant before forwarding any information or the complaint itself to that body for investigation.

4.4 Investigation Procedure

The Operations Manager will assign an investigating officer and set clear completion timescales. The investigation must be thorough, collecting statements and evidence to determine the circumstances and root causes. The resulting investigation report must be written in Plain English—succinct, jargon-free, and conciliatory—to clearly identify preventative actions and outcomes.

5. Outcomes and Appeals

5.1 Categorisation of Outcomes

The conclusion of an investigation will be recorded by the Operations Manager using the following terms, based on the standard of proof (whether the event was “more likely than not” to have occurred):

• Upheld: Evidence confirms the matter complained about more likely than not occurred.
• Not Upheld: Evidence confirms the matter more likely than not did not occur.
• Partly Upheld: Used when a complaint contains multiple elements and at least one, but not all, are upheld.

5.2 Final Response

The final response letter must be signed by the Chair (or nominated deputy) and dispatched within 28 days. The letter will include an opportunity for the complainant to contact the Operations Manager or the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regarding any remaining questions.

5.3 Withdrawal of a Complaint

If a complainant withdraws their concern at any stage:

1. The individual complained against must be informed immediately in writing.
2. The complainant will receive a letter from the Chair/CEO confirming the withdrawal has been noted.
3. Thrive Autism will continue to investigate any identified internal issues to ensure learning is still captured and cascaded.

5.4 Appeals and Remedies

Remedies may include:

• An official apology, explanation, and acknowledgment of responsibility.
• Remedial action (e.g., revising systems, changing a decision, or staff training).
• An explanation of options for further escalation if the complainant remains dissatisfied.

5.5 External Scrutiny

If a complainant is dissatisfied with the charity’s final response, they may contact:

• The Health Service Ombudsman: For independent review regarding care services. Thrive Autism will make all files available to the Ombudsman upon request.
• Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): For matters involving data protection or suspected fraud (https://ico.org.uk/).
• Fundraising Regulator: For complaints regarding fundraising (https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/).
• Charity Commission: For concerns regarding charity administration (http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/).

6. Supporting Principles and Special Circumstances

6.1 ‘Being Open’

Thrive Autism adheres to a ‘Being Open’ philosophy. If a service user is harmed due to an action or omission, they (and their family) will receive a prompt apology, a full explanation, and regular updates on the investigation and subsequent changes.

6.2 Support for Staff and Disciplinary Matters

Employees and volunteers involved in a complaint are entitled to professional support via their line manager. While the complaints process itself is not a disciplinary tool, evidence gathered during a complaint investigation may be used as part of a formal disciplinary process if the outcome identifies professional misconduct or negligence.

6.3 Safeguarding and Fraud

• Safeguarding: If a complaint identifies a safeguarding issue, multi-agency procedures for adults or children must be triggered immediately. The complainant must be informed that the matter is being handled under safeguarding protocols.
• Fraud: Suspected fraud or corruption must be reported to the ICO or the National Fraud and Corruption line at 0800 028 40 60.

6.4 Media and Social Media

To maintain confidentiality, all interactions with the media or social media regarding complaints are managed exclusively by the Head of Communications in conjunction with the ICO and senior management.

7. Records, Learning, and Dissemination

7.1 Record Maintenance

The Operations Manager will maintain secure files for all complaints. Records must be retained for 10 years following the completion of action, after which they must be destroyed under confidential conditions. Files must be made available to the Health Service Ombudsman if an independent review is requested.

7.2 Learning from Feedback

Thrive Autism utilises feedback as a strategic tool to:

• Identify trends in compliments to share and replicate good practice.
• Use concerns as an “early warning system” to detect potential service failures.
• Identify human error and system failures to implement targeted improvements.

8. Version Control History

Approval Date:

Version History

*Version control starts at 1.0 once the Policy & Procedure has been approved (please use 0 prior to approval)