Complaints Guidance and Procedure for Customers:

Chace is committed to providing the best possible service to its clients. We acknowledge however, that there will be occasions when people may not be happy with some aspect of our provision. This statement exists to make it easier for clients to tell us about these occasions. All complaints will be taken seriously and dealt with as quickly as possible.

Our aim is to:

1. Deal with complaints openly, efficiently, fairly and without prejudice.
2. Keep complainants fully informed of our progress.
3. Achieve a resolution, which is satisfactory to both the complainant and Chace.
4. The complaint will be handled in line with the Data Protection Act and Policy of Chace
5. We aim to learn from any mistakes and the complaints procedure is seen as very important to ensure quality procedures and improvement in our services.

The Process and Timeframe:
We would hope that wherever possible your concerns are resolved through communication with key members of staff. The first step is to raise your grievance with the employee responsible for the service. If the matter is not resolved by them, the relevant Line Manager will become involved to work with you and the member of staff involved to try and conclude matters.

If you are not satisfied with how your grievance has been resolved you may begin the formal complaint procedure. Details of how to do this are set out below.

You should request a Chace complaint form which formalises the process. You should detail the following:

• What you are complaining about
• The names of the people involved where applicable
• Your ideas on how you wish to see the issue resolved

If a dispute is unable to be resolved by the Operations Manager, the complaints form will be issued to the complainant from the first Director. On receipt of the formal complaint an acknowledgment will be made as soon as possible but within 5 working days of the receipt of the complaint. The first Director will aim to resolve the complaint as soon as possible, but due to necessary investigations, a maximum timeframe is provided below.

A full response to the complaint will be made as soon as possible, but no longer than a maximum of 20 working days. It may be necessary to engage in further written communication. Chace will respond at each stage within a maximum of 10 working days.

If the response is not satisfactory for the client, further communication can be issued to the second Director who will make a response as soon as possible, but no longer than 10 working days.

External Guidance:
Should you feel Chace did not deal with your complaint satisfactorily you are entitled to request a review of the complaint with a third party. For example, the Disabled Students’ Allowances Quality Assurance Group at www.dsa-qag.org.uk has a regulatory national role and expertise regarding access to the Disabled Students’ Allowances and can assist in procedural framework complaints. Contact can also be made with the Funding Body.