Complaints Procedure

The Older People’s Commissioner for Wales is committed to making a difference to older people’s lives by placing older people and their needs at the heart of what we do.

Our organisational values and behaviours drive the culture of the organisation and underpin our personal performance objectives:

One team

• Shared goals above individual agendas
• Proactive in offering support to others

Respectful

• Actively seek the views of others
• Demonstrate that value different views and perspectives
• Inclusive and friendly

Pay attention to each other’s wellbeing

• Be kind, welcoming and supportive to everyone
• Consider the impact on others of what we say and do

Open

• Challenge constructively and be open to challenge
• Seek to learn from others
• Always look for better ways of doing things

Ambitious

• Show passion for our vision
• Strive for excellence
• Be bold and ready to take considered risks to achieve impact

Integrity

• Strive to do the right things and take responsibility for our work
• Do what we say we will do

All concerns received are taken seriously. As part of our commitment we aim to:

• Provide an accessible, simple and transparent process for looking into complaints about the service we give;
• Respond quickly to complaints;
• Apologise and provide any appropriate redress if we have given poor service; and
• Learn from the process and identify any improvements that can be made.

We welcome your feedback, as it helps us to continually improve our service and ensure that problems do not repeat themselves, so please tell us when a problem arises.

How do I complain?

If you are unhappy with:

• our service
• an investigation of an issue you have raised
• a decision not to investigate an issue you have raised
• the outcome of an investigation

you can use this complaints procedure. You can also use this complaints procedure to complain about other things. For example, you might wish to complain about undue delay in responding to correspondence; or that you feel a member of staff has been rude or unhelpful; or that we have not done what we said we would.

If possible, we believe that it is best to deal with things straight away rather than try to sort them out later. If you have a complaint, raise it with the person you are dealing with. He or she will try to resolve it for you there and then.

However, if you are not sure who to contact, or if you are not satisfied with the way your complaint has been dealt with by a member of staff, please contact the Complaints Manager as follows.

Telephone: 03442 640 670

Email: ask@olderpeople.wales

Write to:

Older People’s Commissioner for Wales
Cambrian Buildings
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff
CF10 5FL

Although you can discuss complaints with our staff, it would be better to make them in writing. You can write your complaints in Welsh or English.

When writing to us, please tell us your address and phone number; and if you have any communication needs such as large print, and we will do our best to meet them.

What happens to my complaint?

The Complaints Manager will deal with your complaint herself.

Once you have made a complaint to the Complaints Manager, she will send you an acknowledgement within 5 working days of receiving your letter or email. The Complaints Manager will give serious consideration to the issues you raise and will investigate as appropriate. The investigation will start at the point that you are sent the acknowledgement.

If the complaint is about the Complaints Manager, or the Complaints Manager has been involved in the matter you are complaining about, a senior member of staff will investigate instead.

If the Complaints Manager decides that your complaint is upheld, we will send you an apology in writing, along with details of any other steps we think are necessary in the circumstances, including what we will do to prevent the problem happening again. If the Complaints Manager decides that your complaint is not upheld, we will write to you explaining why.

We aim to send a full reply to all complaints within 20 working days of the complaint arriving with us. If that is not possible, for example if the matters you raise require more detailed work, we will let you know.

Is there a time limit for complaining?

It can be difficult to look into matters which happened some time ago. In general, we would expect you to make any complaint about the service reasonably soon after you become aware of the problem and in any event within twelve months.

What if I am not satisfied with the response to my complaint?

You should write again to the Complaints Manager stating that you wish to appeal to the Commissioner. If the complaint was about the Commissioner, you should state that you wish to appeal to the Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee. You should set out as clearly as possible why you are dissatisfied with the response which was made to your complaint.

The Complaints Manager will acknowledge your appeal within 5 working days of receiving it. The Commissioner, or the Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, will personally consider your appeal at that point and will aim to send you a full reply within 20 working days. Again, if this is not possible, we will let you know.

The Commissioner’s, or Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee’s, decision is final. We will acknowledge further correspondence from you but, unless this raises new issues that we consider significant, we will not send further substantive replies.

Unacceptable Actions Policy  

The Commissioner has an Unacceptable Actions Policy that sets out the approach to the relatively few enquirers and complainants whose actions or behaviour is considered unacceptable, and where the Commissioner reserves the right not to investigate a complaint.

This policy can be found on our website here: https://olderpeople.wales/about/publication-scheme/our-policies/