Comments, compliments and complaints procedure

If you make a complaint we will:

• treat it seriously
• treat you with courtesy and fairness at all times
• aim to meet our timescales and keep you fully informed of any delays
• address all the points made in your complaint in our response to you
• provide a full explanation about how we arrived at our decision 
• apologise where there has been a failure or delay in our service
• provide help for you to make your complaint (if required). This may include putting you in touch with a suitable agency to help you
• deal with all complaints confidentially and in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998
• use the information from your complaint to review and improve the way in which our services are provided

We will not treat you less favourably than anyone else because of your:

• age
• gender (sex)
• colour or race: this includes ethnic or national origin or nationality
• disability
• gender identity
• marital status or civil partnership: this includes family status, and responsibility for dependants
• pregnancy or maternity
• sexual orientation or
• religious or political beliefs

Unacceptable actions of complainants

We are committed to dealing with complaints fairly and in line with our complaints procedure. Occasionally, the behaviour or actions of individuals makes it very difficult for us to deal with their complaint. In a small number of cases the actions become unacceptable because they involve abuse of our employees or our process. When this happens we have to take action to protect our employees. We consider the impact of the behaviour on our ability to do our work and provide a service to others. Please see our Unacceptable actions policy.