Complaints Policy

Food etc strives to be excellent in all that we do but recognise that this may not always be the case. When there are concerns about our service we want and need to be informed. We will use information to endeavour to put things right and to help us to become more effective.

A complaint can be made by an individual or an organisation who wishes to report dissatisfaction about the standards of service, action or lack of action by Food etc staff, volunteers or anybody directly involved in the delivery of our work.

Everyone who makes a complaint will be treated with courtesy and respect. All complaints will be handled in a fair and impartial way. In return, we expect people who make a complaint to communicate their concerns fairly and appropriately.

How to make a complaint

You can make a complaint to Food etc in the following ways:

Informal Complaints

Any one who has a concern about an aspect of our organisation’s provision can talk over his/her concerns with a member of the Food etc team. They will try to resolve the matter or pass it on to a more appropriate colleague. Most complaints should be resolved amicably and informally at this stage. We may record the issue, and how it was resolved to assist improvements of the service. If your complaint is not resolved at this stage, you may choose to make a formal complaint following the process below.

Please note, you can request to bypass the informal complaint process and proceed directly to a formal complaint process.

Formal Complaints

By email to hello@foodetc.org.uk using the title Complaint in the subject line.

What to include

Please include your name, address and contact telephone number in your email

To ensure we deal with your complaint promptly and accurately we need to know:

Exactly what the problem is and how it has occurred – give as much information as possible including dates, facts
How it has affected you
What you consider should be done to put the matter right

What will happen next?

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 working days.

In normal circumstances you will receive a written reply within 14 working days with either

the final response which addresses the complaint or
a response which explains why we are still not in a position to make a final response, giving reasons for the further delay and indicating when we expect to be able to provide a final response.

We will assess your complaint to determine the best way to deal with it and identify the issues to be investigated and the most appropriate person to deal with the complaint. This will be member of the board.

An investigation will be undertaken by the identified individual who is independent from the issues being raised. We may need to contact you during this time and your cooperation will be important in order to complete the investigation.

For safeguarding allegations, the Food etc designated safeguarding officer will report the allegation to the Local Authority designated Officer and follow the safeguarding policy.

Response and conclusion

Once the investigation has been completed and the appropriate response and action agreed, we will respond to the complainant with the following information:

A written response describing the details of the complaint
Comments addressing each of the issues alleged in the complaint
Explain the investigations undertaken to consider the complaint
State the findings resulting from the investigation
Explain any improvements made as a result of the complaint

Appeal process

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the decisions regarding your complaint, you can appeal the complaint decision.

If you wish to appeal the outcome of the decision you should do so in writing to the Board of directors (email above), setting out briefly the nature of the complaint/appeal; the steps already taken; details of the response received; and a statement as to why you remain dissatisfied.

The board members, who were not involved in handling the original complaints procedure, will review all the information held relating to your complaint and will conduct further investigations if they consider that the initial investigation was insufficient.Once the internal review is complete, you will be informed what the decision is and if you are still unsatisfied, what the external appeal options are.

Escalation

External bodies that you may consider referring to include:

If the relates to our fundraising activities, and you are unhappy with our final response, you can refer your complaint to thethe Fundraising Regulator

If you have a serious complaint regarding another area of our work and do not feel completely satisfied by our response you can raise a complaint withCIC regulator

When we cannot respond

On very rare occasions we may choose not to respond to a complaint. These include:

When a complaint is made anonymously we cannot respond to the complainant, but we will investigate the complaint and use the information to improve in any way that we can.
When someone unreasonably pursues a complaint that we have already responded to. They will be given escalation points but we may choose not to reply again – we will always inform the complainant of our decision to do this.
When a complainant is being obviously abusive, prejudiced or offensive in their manner.
When a complainant is harassing a staff member.
When a complaint is incoherent or illegible.

Review

Complaints and associated documentation will be kept on file for 3 years. Information will be reviewed and used to inform improvements of service delivery, updates of procedures and staff training.

Policy Review

This policy was approved by Food etc’s Board of Directors on 8 May 2024.

The policy will be reviewed at a formal CIC meeting a year after development and then every three years, or in the following circumstances:
- Changes in legislation and/or government guidance
As a result of any other significant change or event
This policy was last reviewed on 8 May 2024.

Signed: ………Julie Clay……………………………………………………………..

Date: …………8/5/25……………………………………………………………….