Purpose:

Service Care Solutions recognise that our reputation and continued success is in the hands of each individual working with our customer. Central to ensuring that the quality of the service we offer meets or exceeds our customers’ expectations is ensuring that we understand the feedback received, positive or negative and that it is acted upon.

SCS views complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve for the future, as well as a chance to put things right for the person (or organisation) that has made the complaint.

Scope:

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, about any aspect of SCS. Complaints may come from any person or organisation who has a legitimate interest in SCS, including (but not limited to) clients, candidates, members of the local community, and third-party suppliers.

A complaint can be received informally or formally either verbally, by phone, by email, or in writing.

Policy:

Our policy is:

  • To treat all complaints seriously

  • To treat a complainant with courtesy and fairness at all times.

  • To provide a fair complaints procedure which is clear and easy to use for anyone wishing to make a complaint

  • To publicise the existence of our complaints procedure so that people know how to contact us to make a complaint

  • To make sure everyone at SCS knows what to do if a complaint is received

  • To make sure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely way

  • To make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved and that relationships are repaired

  • To gather information which helps us to improve what we do

Confidentiality:

All complaints received will be dealt with confidentially and in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations 2018.

Procedure:

SCS recognise that it would be impossible to create an individual process to account for every variable.

As a result, this procedure is intended to provide a general overview as to how SCS employees should

handle a complaint. All SCS employees are expected to use their initiative where appropriate to

remedy the complaint (providing they never make promises we cannot deliver).

Our standards for handling complaints;

  • We treat all complaints seriously, whether they are made by letter or by email

  • You will be treated with courtesy and fairness at all times - we would hope, too, that you will be courteous and fair in your dealings with our staff at all times

  • We will treat your complaint in confidence within the department

  • We will record all complaints centrally and track against it's progress

  • We aim to first deal with a complaint informally within the first 24 hours over the phone however in doing so outlining the complaints policy should it be required

  • We will deal with your complaint promptly - we will acknowledge receipt of a written

  • Complaint within 24 hours, we will inform authorities of our progress and steps within 3 days, and we will resolve complaints within 7 working days of receipt

  • If we cannot send a full reply within 7 working days of receipt, we will tell you the reason why and let you know when we will be able to reply in full

  • We will discuss the number of complaints and categories each quarter in our quarterly business review

  • We will publish information in our annual report on the numbers and categories of complaints we receive, and the percentage of complaints upheld

​Published Contact Details for Complaints:

Written complaints may be sent to Service Care Solutions at:

Arthur House

12-13 Starkie Street

Preston, Lancashire,

PR1 3LU

Or by email at complaints@servicecare.org.uk

Verbal complaints may be made by phone to 0800 311 2020 or in person to any Service Care Solutions staff at the above address.

Identifying Complaints:

All SCS staff are trained and refreshed annually in complaints handling. These courses not only assist our staff in the appropriate approach, conduct, etc. But also, how to identify a ‘potential’ complaint before it becomes formal. All staff are encouraged to seek feedback of all categories on an ongoing basis and as such allows us to deal with a complaint informally in the version of feedback rather than it escalates to a complaint.

Receiving Complaints:

Complaints may arrive through channels publicised for that purpose or through any other contact details or opportunities the complainant may have. All complaints must to be recorded on the against the appropriate candidate profile in Bullhorn, but also on our centralised complaints log. The person who receives a complaint should:

In the event the complaint is taken verbally the person taking the complaint will;

  • Write down the facts of the complaint

  • Take the complainant's name, address and telephone number

  • Note down the relationship of the complainant to Service Care Solutions (for example: client, supplier etc.)

  • Tell the complainant that we have a complaints procedure

  • Tell the complainant what will happen next and how long it will take — if in doubt as to how long it will take, tell them you don’t know and give a time you will provide an update.

  • Send the complaint and details to complaints@servicecare.orq.uk where it will be collected, logged allocated to the appropriate person, and tracked thereafter.

In the event the complaint is sent by email or post the complaint will;

  • Be collected by our compliance and governance team

  • Be logged on the complaints log

  • Allocated to the appropriate senior manager and relevant department internally

  • Progress tracked in line with the time scales outlined in this policy

  • Log completed and recorded, along with reporting in each quarterly business review thereafter

For further guidelines about handling verbal complaints, see Appendix 1.

Whether the complaint is justified or not, or if the complaint has been resolved or not, the complaint information should be logged on the Bullhorn System along with the complaints log as soon as the complaint is received.

Resolving Complaints:

A Complaint may only be considered “Resolved” when the complainant confirms SCS have remedied the problem to their satisfaction. This confirmation may be verbal but also in writing.

In many cases, a complaint is best resolved by the person responsible for the issue being complained about. If the complaint has been received by that person, they may be able to resolve it swiftly and do so if possible and appropriate. If there is any doubt as how to resolve the issue, they MUST seek advice and guidance from their line manager and/or SCS compliance and governance manager.

All SCS employees are expected to use their initiative where appropriate to remedy the complaint (providing they do not make promises or take action that would exceed their authority).

Complaints should be acknowledged by the person handling the complaint as soon as possible and, in any case, no longer than 24 hours after receipt.

If we are unable to resolve a complaint immediately, the acknowledgement should say who is dealing with the complaint and when the person complaining can expect a reply.

The complainant should be directed to the SCS Complaints Process on the website.

SCS aim to resolve all complainants and send a definitive reply to the complainant within one week. Contact with the complainant should be made regularly (i.e., every 24-48 hours) to ensure they are kept informed of the investigations progress and of the intended resolution.

If it is not possible to resolve the complaint within 1 week because for example, an investigation has not been fully completed, the regular contact and progress report should be provided with an indication of when we reasonably expect to provide a full reply/resolution.

Whether the complaint is justified or not, the reply to the complainant should describe the action taken to investigate the complaint, the conclusions from the investigation, and any action taken as a result of the complaint.

When the complaint is resolved, this should be clearly recorded in the SCS complaints log.

​Escalation:

Escalation of any complaint should follow the management structure of SCS (as detailed on the HiBob system), starting with the person receiving the complaint. For example, a consultant would escalate to their Team Leader, Team Leader to their line manager etc.

There may be instances where the management of the complaint should bypass several layers of the management structure. This may include (but is not limited to) where the complaint is of a very serious nature, the potential consequences of being found to be at fault are very serious or the appropriate remedy requires authorisation from a Senior Manager or Director.

Events that trigger an escalation are:

The complainant requesting escalation.

  • The complainant not being satisfied at the proposed resolution.

  • The complaint remaining unresolved after 1 week.

  • The complaint relates to a specific person of the same grade.

  • The person managing the complaint being unable to remedy the issue.

  • The person managing the complaint being unsure how to remedy the issue.

  • The Complainant advises that legal action and/or press involvement may ensue.*

*-In the event that legal action and/or press involvement may ensue, the person managing the complaint MUST inform a director immediately.

When a complaint is escalated, the individual escalating should pass all details and records of the complaint (including all communications, evidence, findings etc.) and make themselves available for queries from the person now handling the complaint.

Escalation should be recorded on Bullhorn by the individual escalating it, detailing why it has been escalated and who is now responsible. The complainant should be informed as soon as possible of the escalation and who is now the point of contact responsible for resolution along with contact details for them.

Following the management structure, the complaint management may reach the Director level of the hierarchy. The decision taken at this stage to resolve the complaint is final, unless the Executive Committee decides it is appropriate to seek external assistance with resolution.

External Stage:

The complainant can complain to The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) at any stage. Information about how to complain about a REC member can be found on their website at: https://www.rec.uk.com/about-us/membership/compliance/complaints/how-to-complain-about-an- rec-member.

Where a complaint has been made by an NHS Authority about Service Care Solutions noncompliance with its obligations under any Call-off contract, we must inform the framework authority within three business days.

Variation of the Complaints Procedure:

The Executive Committee may vary the procedure for good reason. In any event, this policy and process is reviewed annually.

Monitoring and Learning from Complaints:

As part of SCS’s ongoing improvement the executive committee reviews all complaints from the log every quarter to identify ongoing issues or board level decisions / changes that need to be made. This process was introduced so that we could learn from our mistakes and introduce actions to be taken to avoid similar complaints in the future.

​Signed: Chris Musgrove

Name: Chris Musgrove

Position: Managing Director

Date: 31/05/2023

Appendix 1 - Practical Guidance for Handling Verbal Complaints

  1. Remain calm and respectful throughout the conversation

  2. Listen allow the person to talk about the complaint in their own words. Sometimes a person just wants to "let off steam"

  3. Don’t debate the facts in the first instance, especially if the person is angry Show an interest in what is being said

  4. Obtain details about the complaint before any personal details

  5. Ask for clarification wherever necessary

  6. Show that you have understood the complaint by reflecting back what you have noted down

  7. Acknowledge the person’s feelings (even if you feel that they are being unreasonable) - you can do this without making a comment on the complaint itself or making any admission of fault on behalf of the organisation e.g. "I understand that this situation is frustrating for you"

  8. If you feel that an apology is deserved for something that was the responsibility of your organisation, then apologise

  9. Ask the person what they would like done to resolve the issue

  10. Be clear about what you can do, how long it will take and what it will involve.

  11. Don’t promise things you can’t deliver

  12. Give clear and valid reasons why requests cannot be met

  13. Make sure that the person understands what they have been told

  14. Wherever appropriate, inform the person about the available avenues of review or appeal

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