We want to hear from you

Integrating Children and Young People tries to make its service for children and families fun, helpful and safe. However, sometimes things go wrong and to make sure this does not happen again we need to know what has happened and how you feel about it.

We want Integrating to be an open organisation which allows everyone to feel able to make their views known.

Complaints

A Complaint is anything that children, young people, parents, carers, service providers or members of the public consider to be a complaint.

All complaints we receive will be fully investigated and acted upon and you will always be told what has happened.

You can make an informal or formal complaint. You do not have to go through an informal stage to make a formal complaint but it is often the best way.

Informal Complaint

If you are not happy about something you may wish to approach a member of staff or their manager and tell them about your concern. This can be verbally, by phone, email or letter.

This complaint will be taken seriously and we would expect that the matter would be sorted to your satisfaction within 14 days.

If you are not happy about how the matter has been dealt with you may want to make a formal complaint....

Formal Complaint – Stage 1

You can make a formal complaint through an email, letter or a text. You may ask someone to help you write your complaint. It does not have to be detailed but should contain –

-Your name

-Contact details, a phone number will do

-Who your complaint is against

-A brief outline of the complaint

-What you want to see the outcome of the complaint being

This should be sent to Sue Gaudie-Jones our Complaints Coordinator – contact details over the page.

Following this,

You will receive a letter within 5 working days of us receiving your complaint acknowledging that we have received this, and arranging a time to meet with Sue and a member of staff.

A meeting will take place within a further 10 working days to meet with yourself and anyone you may wish to have with you as support. This may be an advocate who will speak on your behalf. The aim of the meeting is to try to understand the complaint and come to an agreement regarding the issue.

Within a further 5 working days you will receive a written record of the discussion and any agreement made and action taken by Integrating.

If you are still not happy with the outcome of the complaint you can make an Appeal.

Making an Appeal – Stage 2

Within 10 working days of receiving the letter regarding the outcome of Stage 1 you can contact the Complaints Coordinator by letter, email or text outlining the reason for your appeal and what you hope to see at the end of the process.

The Appeal

Within 5 days of receiving your Appeal letter you will be invited to an Appeal hearing. The Appeal panel will be made up of at least three Trustees of Integrating and take place within 10 working days of you being sent the invitation.

The Complaints Coordinator will have circulated the Stage 1 report to the panel with any correspondence from the complainant.

The complainant will again be able to bring a person to support them or to speak for them. The only person who cannot support you is a solicitor acting in a legal capacity as these are not legal proceedings.

The panel will provide the Complainant with a written record of the panel’s decision and any action taken within 5 working days of the hearing.

The decision of the Appeal panel is final although this does not prevent a complainant pursuing the matter further through any appropriate legal proceedings.

Contact Details

Sue Gaudie-Jones

Complaints Coordinator

Integrating Children and Young People

Bullion Hall

South Approach

Chester le Street

Co. Durham

DH2 2ES

Email:

Phone:07811 900194

Complaints ProcedureFebruary 2013 (rev.November 2015)