Better Way - complaints policy and procedure
We want to help you resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.
We also welcome feedback.
Our policy
We want to provide a high-quality experience to everyone involved in the Better Way network. So, if we get something wrong, please tell us. We will listen and take what you say very seriously. We know we can learn from complaints, and we treat them as an opportunity to develop and improve the network. We are grateful to hear from people who are willing to take the time to help us improve.
We consider a complaint to be a statement that something is wrong or not good enough in the opinion of the person making the complaint. It may not always be clear when an individual is making a complaint and the word may never be used, but where someone raises concern or dissatisfaction, we will treat it as a complaint.
This policy covers complaints about the standard of service we provide to members of the network, including the behaviour of our co-convenors.
It doesn’t cover complaints about the behaviour of other Better Way members in the course of network business. These will be considered separately under our safeguarding and network standards of behaviour policy which makes it clear that all forms of harassment, abuse and exploitation, including unfair discrimination, are not tolerated and we will expel members who do not follow these rules.
The policy also doesn’t cover matters that have already been fully investigated through this complaints procedure or another policy, or anonymous complaints.
Our aim is to make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved.
We will publicise the existence of our complaints procedure on our website so that people know how to contact us to make a complaint.
This policy will be reviewed every three years by the Chair of the Better Way Core Group.
Our standards for handling complaints
We treat all complaints seriously, however they are made.
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 co-convenors and with other members at all times.
We will deal with your complaint promptly - we will acknowledge receipt of a written complaint within 5 working days and we will send you a full reply within 20 working days of receipt. If we cannot send a full reply within 20 working days of receipt of your complaint we will tell you the reason why and let you know when we will be able to reply in full.
All complaints will be dealt with in accordance with the requirements of UK data protection law.
How to complain
Please make your complaint by email to: feedback@betterway.network.
We have a 2-stage complaints procedure. At each stage it will help us to resolve your complaint quickly if you can give us as much clear detail as possible, including any documents and correspondence, and stating that you are making a complaint in line with our procedure.
The Stages of the Complaints Procedure
Stage 1
This is the first opportunity to investigate and resolve your dissatisfaction, and we would expect the majority of complaints to be resolved at this stage.
If the complaint is about one or both of the co-convenors, an independent member of the Better Way Core Group, who has no direct involvement in the issue, will investigate the complaint.
Our response to your complaint may take the form of a letter, email or telephone call.
Stage 2
If you are dissatisfied with this response, please request a review of the response.
This review will be conducted by an independent member of the Better Way Core Group, who has had no direct involvement in the issue up to that point.
Timescales for handling a complaint
Stage 1 - maximum 20 working days
acknowledgement within 5 working days
full response within 20 working days
Stage 2 - maximum 20 working days
acknowledgement within 5 working days
full response within 20 working days
Following Stage 1, you have up to 20 working days from the date of the final response to request (by email to feedback@betterway.network) that your complaint be progressed to Stage 2.
Extending time limits
We aim to complete all complaints within the timescales above; however, if a complaint is very complex it may occasionally be necessary to extend the time limit. If this is the case, we will keep you informed of progress with the investigation, the reasons for the delay, and the new deadline.
Remedies
When we get things wrong, we will accept responsibility by saying sorry, explain what went wrong and why, and put things right by making any changes required.
The actions we take to put matters right need to be proportionate and appropriate to the failure. We will take into account what you are looking for when you made the complaint. As well as an apology, our actions might include, for example, a change of procedures to prevent future difficulties of a similar kind, either for you or others, or any other actions which are felt to be necessary.
Comments
As well as learning from your complaints, we are also interested in other ideas that you may have on how we might do things better.
You can make your comments by email to feedback@betterway.network. We will use your comments to help improve our service and the way we do things. However, the 2-stage procedure outlined above does not apply to comments.
Unreasonable behaviour
All complaints will be processed in accordance with this policy. However, we reserve the right to limit the means by which a complainant can contact the co-convenors, or to terminate the complaint process prematurely, where there is unreasonable complainant behaviour or unreasonably persistent complainants. We define this as “those who, because of the frequency or nature of their contact with the Better Way network, hinder the reasonable ability of the co-convenors to facilitate and support the network”.
Recording complaints
We will keep a record of all the complaints that we receive so that we can monitor the types of problems we are encountering, the best way to resolve them, and how long we are taking to resolve them. This also helps us to take a closer look at how we can improve the network.
We will handle your information in line with all current data protection legislation.
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Date of last review: June 2023
Date of next review: June 2026