Complaints Procedure

 

Author:Angela Padfield
Date of Publication:7 July 2015
RevisedAugust 2026
Date of Next ReviewAugust 2027

 

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, comments, concerns, compliments (4Cs) and general feedback.

We will collect information on the 4Cs 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.  Gathering information on the 4Cs and checking responses to them is one way we will feed into our processes to do this.

We wish to be responsive to complaints, comments, concerns or compliments (4Cs) made by members of the public and view complaints as a valuable form of feedback.  Therefore, a formal 4Cs and Feedback Policy and Procedure will ensure that a complain/concern is fully investigated in a systematic and comprehensive manner and will ensure that it is able to mirror the lessons about good practice in handling any of the 4Cs by learning from statutory procedures and by being linked closely with them.

York Learning will ensure that we follow City of York Council’s 4Cs Toolkit alongside our feedback system and that it:

  • is easily accessible and understandable;
  • is acknowledged and published as a model for developing good practice;
  • ensures a thorough and fair investigation within set timescales;
  • 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

We hope that you enjoy and benefit from the course you have chosen.  If however, you should have any cause for concern or want to tell us on what we have done well, we would like to know about it so that we can take action to improve the situation or recognise the person you are complimenting.  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.

In the first instance if you are raising a query, complaint, concern, compliment or opinion please speak to the centre staff, tutor or manager as appropriate.

Should you wish to formalise your complaint, please follow the City of York Council process by clicking here to visit the ‘Raise a comment, compliment, complaint or concern’ webpage to have your say.
You can also email: haveyoursay@york.gov.uk
or call 01904 554145

How we deal with complaints and concerns

 

Our Corporate Governance Team will deal with your complaints and concerns using our policy and procedures known as ‘The 4Cs Toolkit‘.

A complaint or concern is a way of letting us know that you’re not happy with a particular service, it may be about a delay, lack of response, or about the standard of service you’ve received.

Please let us know if:

  • you think we’ve done something wrong
  • we’ve not done something that we said we would do
  • you’re not satisfied with a particular service, or set of services that we provide
Effective complaint handling enables individuals to be heard and understood. The starting point for this is a shared understanding of what constitutes a service request and what constitutes a complaint. In most cases, the council should be able to put things right through their business-as-usual service delivery and processes and resolve matters to an individual’s satisfaction before they become a complaint and so it is important to recognise the difference between a complaint and a service request. A service request is defined as: “A request for us to provide or improve a service, fix a problem or reconsider a decision. ‘ Service requests are not complaints but may contain expressions of dissatisfaction. The council should have the opportunity to deal with a service request before a complaint is made. However, the council will ensure that individuals have the opportunity to consider making a complaint e.g. a complaint may be raised when the individual expresses dissatisfaction with the response to their service request, even if the handling of the service request remains ongoing. The council should not stop its efforts to address the service request if the individual complains. A complaint is defined as: ‘An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual or group of individuals.’ This includes whether the council has followed the right steps to make decisions or take action as we cannot criticise decisions or actions if they were taken correctly. 
The following are excluded from being handled through this policy and procedure: 
  • A request for a service that is made for the first time (sometimes called a service request or business as usual), a missed service request or single service failure or an issue that the council could not reasonably have been expected to have been aware of before. For example, impacts of a decision on an individual, being reported for the first time or a customer report that a classroom wasn’t heated. If we then fail to resolve the issues to the customer’s satisfaction, the issues will then be defined and treated as a complaint.
  • A request for information or an explanation of a council policy or practice.
  • A complaint about the outcome of a decision and whether the right choice was made, and actions were taken correctly.
  • A complaint that has already been considered through another appropriate route such as an insurance claim, a court or tribunal, or a complaint where there is another more appropriate route of independent scrutiny.
  • Any issue which has separate provision for or specific procedures governing complaints and appeals (whether this be statutory or not). This includes but is not limited to the following issues:
    • data protection complaints – complaints about how the council uses individuals’ personal information. You can find more details about your rights and how to complain at Our Privacy Notice – City of York Council
  • Where it is more than 12 months from the issues of a complaint being known or the customer becoming aware of the issues. However, the CFCT will consider whether to apply discretion to accept a complaint outside of this 12-month time limit taking into consideration one or more of the following:
    • Whether the complaint could have been made sooner
    • Whether there is sufficient knowledge and/or evidence still available to be able to complete an investigation and reach a conclusion
    • Whether there is a realistic ability to provide an appropriate resolution
  • For all of the above, the customer will be informed and advised why their complaint has been refused and where appropriate of other routes for progressing their concerns and provided details for contacting the appropriate Ombudsman if they are dissatisfied with the response. See Section 8 (Complaints, Concerns, Comments and Compliments policy and procedure – City of York Council) for Ombudsmen contact details.
 

Use our online form to raise a complaint or concern; alternatively, contact our Corporate Governance Team by email or telephone.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]