Part 1 – Policy

 

1. General Principles

York Learning and City of York Council is committed to excellent customer service and to securing customer satisfaction in the way it responds to complaints and feedback from any of its service users. York Learning will ensure we deliver a better service to our customers by monitoring and measuring complaints, concerns, compliments and comments. We will follow a standard procedure to achieve greater consistency in how we deal with complaints and feedback.

We will collect information on complaints and feedback so that we know which areas of service customers are most satisfied /dissatisfied with. This enables a closer look at whether to change aspects of the service and/or offer training and support for staff to improve services as well as ensure that staff dealing with complaints are appropriately trained and supported.

York learning will demonstrate that we listen to our customers’ views and feeds them into service development. Gathering information on complaints and checking responses to them is one way we will do this.

We wish to be responsive to complaints made by members of the public and view complaints as a valuable form of feedback.  Therefore, a formal Complaints and Feedback Policy and Procedure will ensure that a complaint is fully investigated in a systematic and comprehensive manner and will ensure that it is able to mirror the lessons about good practice in complaints handling by learning from statutory complaints procedures and by being linked closely with them.

York Learning will ensure that our feedback and complaints system:

• is easily accessible and understandable;
• is acknowledged and published as a model for developing good practice;
• ensures a thorough and fair investigation within set time-scales;
• provides an effective response and appropriate redress;
• provides feedback to management so that areas of dissatisfaction can be improved;
• keeps complainants informed of progress;
• is fully understood by all staff.

 

Guidelines for Learners

 

Dear Learner

We hope that you enjoy and benefit from the course you have chosen.  If however, you should have any cause for complaint, we would like to know about it so that we can take action to improve the situation.  Tutors and centre staff are committed to providing the best learning experience they can, so it is important that they know when things go wrong.

The procedure for making a complaint is as follows:

In the first instance, talk to the person who is directly involved.  This is usually the best way of resolving a problem.

• If it is a complaint about the course, you should speak to the tutor
• If it is a complaint about the centre, you should speak to the Centre Staff

If you are unable or unwilling to talk to the person who is directly involved, or if you are unhappy with their response when you do, you should contact the next person in the line of responsibility, in other words:

 

Complaint about…	Next person in the line of responsibility
The course or the tutor	The Curriculum Manager
The Centre staff	The Operations Manager
The Curriculum or Operations Manager	The Head of Service

 

If you prefer you can complain in writing using our Complaints Form.  This form is available from the Adult Education Office at the centre hosting your course or from the central York Learning office at West Offices.  Written complaints should be addressed to the Head of Service and mailed to the address below in an envelope marked “Private and Confidential”

The Head of York Learning
West Offices
Station Rise
York
YO1 6GA

The form can also be emailed to you upon request to york.learning@york.gov.uk

Your complaint will be investigated and you will receive a written response within 10 working days.  In supporting or rejecting your complaint, reasons will be given in writing.

If you feel your complaint has not be satisfactorily resolved it will be escalated in line with the City of York’s policy in dealing with complaints and further information can be found here: https://www.york.gov.uk/info/20243/contact_us/1566/make_a_complaint_or_suggestion