Complaints Policy

BHT Sussex welcomes complaints and expressions of dissatisfaction as one way of helping to learn, improve and develop our services and practice.

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 employees, or those acting on its behalf, affecting the individual client, tenant or group or tenants.

Complaints will be acknowledged and logged within 5 working days.  They will be responded to promptly and objectively with an aim of fair resolution.  Complaints will be treated with respect and understanding.

Complainants can have a representative of their choice throughout the process.

Services will have a named Complaints Officer, normally expected to be the Service Manager, who will ensure a thorough, fair and appropriate response to complaints.

The Procedure will:

  • Be committed to early resolution.
  • Be easily accessible and well publicised.
  • Ensure a swift response, with established time limits for action.  Where such a timetable cannot be adhered to, the complainant will be informed of this and the reason why.
  • Ensure that the complainant is informed and updated during the complaints process.
  • Ensure a full and fair investigation.
  • Ensure that the BHT Sussex Data Protection and Confidentiality Policy is adhered to.
  • Address all points raised and provide an effective response and appropriate redress to these.
  • Ask the complainant how they would like the complaint to be resolved, and what they would ideally like the outcome to be.
  • Provide information so that services can be improved.

BHT Sussex will not normally investigate or respond to complaints made by parties against whom the BHT Sussex Legal and Advice Service are acting.

If a complaint is outside the limit of our remit, this will be confirmed in writing within 5 working days.

At the conclusion of the process, the complainant will be asked whether they are satisfied with how the complaint was resolved, and a summary will be reported annually to the Operations and Personnel Committee.

The Complaints Policy and Procedure is publicised on the BHT Sussex website, in handbooks and information leaflets.

Reasonable Adjustments

BHT Sussex employees should be sensitive to literacy or other communication and support needs and should offer to assist, if appropriate.  Assistance can be provided, if appropriate, by BHT Sussex employees or complainants can be sign-posted to other agencies, such as Citizens Advice.  Where the complaint is not in writing, the employee receiving the complaint will need to complete the complaint form with details of the complaint and how to contact the complainant, etc.  Wherever possible, this should be signed by the complainant.

Complaints Procedure

How to make a Complaint

Complaints should be made using the BHT Sussex Online Complaints Form.  This form can be downloaded.  Complaints can also be made verbally, by telephone, in writing, by email, social media or by other means.

Complainants may be asked to complete the complaints form to ensure that there is absolute clarity regarding the nature of the complaint.

Lines of Delegation and Responsibility

There are two stages of the BHT Sussex Complaints procedure, and both have indicative response times.  While these timescales should, ideally, be adhered to, unavoidable circumstances may result in the need for them to be extended.  If that is the case, the reasons must be recorded.  For example, where there is difficulty in locating the complainant, difficulty in engaging with the complainant, the inability to gather evidence due to the absence of key people, etc.  The reason for any delay, and the new target date, will be communicated to the complainant.

Within these timescales:

  • All complaints will be dealt with as promptly as possible, whilst ensuring a full and fair investigation, addressing all the points raised and providing an effective response and appropriate redress.
  • The complainant will be informed at the earliest opportunity about how their complaint will be processed.

Stage One

If the complainant is not satisfied with the initial response to an expression of dissatisfaction, the complaint will be dealt with by the manager (or where appropriate, deputy manager) or Senior Manager of that service.  They will endeavour to resolve the matter promptly and will aim to respond to the complainant within 20 working days.

The complainant will be kept informed and updated during the complaint process, including when there is an extension to the original timescale and the reason(s) for the extension.

A report of the complaint will be kept on In-Form, or another system where In-Form is not used, so that a summary of all complaints can be produced when required.

The Chief Executive and the relevant Director should be alerted at the earliest opportunity to any complaints that are particularly serious in nature (for example, abuse, neglect or serious injury or complaints reported to the press or from elected politicians) to ensure that any implications for public relations and organisational reputation can be considered.

At the conclusion of Stage One, the complainant will be asked whether they are satisfied with how the complaint has been resolved and they will be advised about the Appeals stage.

Appeal Stage

Should Stage One prove unsatisfactory, the complainant can appeal against the decision within 30 days of the conclusion of Stage One of the complaint.  The appeal will involve a review of the original complaint and paperwork related to the complaint.  There will not normally be a re-investigation.

An appeal would be successful if the correct procedure had not been followed, the decision was not in line with the facts of the case, or if the action to be taken did not match the seriousness of the issue complained about.  No new matters may form part of the appeal.

The appeal will normally be considered by a BHT Sussex employee who has not previously been involved in the case and is a Senior Manager, Director or the Chief Executive, although in very rare circumstances it might be referred to a Board member of the Operations and Personnel Committee.  The individual considering the appeal will normally speak with the complainant and will review the complaint file.

Appeals should be made in writing, addressed to the Chief Executive, BHT Sussex, 144 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4PH.

The conclusions reached by the individual dealing with the appeal, if it is not the Chief Executive, will be reported to the Chief Executive and communicated in writing to the complainant by the Chief Executive, normally within 8 weeks of the appeal being lodged.

The Appeal Stage is the final stage in the BHT Sussex procedure.

At the conclusion of the Appeal Stage, the complainant will be asked whether they are satisfied with how the complaint has been resolved.

Where appropriate, clients, tenants and other individuals will be given information on how to refer a complaint to a relevant external body.

Timescales

Should the published timescales be unachievable, a revised timetable will be agreed. Circumstances, such as the absence of key personnel being absent from work, may result in timescales having to be revised.  Timescales can be altered through mutual consent of all parties or, in the absence of mutual consent, with the agreement of the Chief Executive.

Complaints against the Chief Executive

The exception to the above procedure relates to a complaint against the Chief Executive.  A complaint should be made in writing and addressed to the Chair of the Operations and Personnel Committee, BHT Sussex, 144 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4PH.  They will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 10 days and will identify a person who will investigate the complaint (the Investigating Officer).

On conclusion of the investigation, which will normally include an interview with the complainant, the Chief Executive, and relevant witnesses, the Investigating Officer will report back to a panel of at least two Board members appointed by the Chair of the Operations and Personnel Committee.  The panel will make a decision which will be communicated in writing to both the complainant and the Chief Executive.

Complaints against the Chief Executive will normally be dealt with within 8 weeks of receipt.

Appeals against the decision of the panel can be made in writing, within 30 days of the conclusion of the complaint, to the Chair of the Board, BHT Sussex, 144 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4PH.  They will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 10 working days.  The Chair will review the complaint file and will normally speak to the complainant.  There will not normally be a re-investigation.

An appeal would be successful if the correct procedure had not been followed, the decision was not in line with the facts of the case, or if the action to be taken did not match the seriousness of the issue complained about.  No new matters may form part of the appeal.

The Chair will make a final ruling and communicate this to the complainant and the Chief Executive, usually within eight weeks of receipt of the appeal.

The Appeal Stage is the final stage in the BHT Sussex procedure.

At the conclusion of the Appeal Stage, the complainant will be asked whether they are satisfied with how the complaint has been resolved.

Excessive Complaints

BHT Sussex is committed to dealing with complaints in an open and transparent way, that is fair and equal.  However, if complaints surpass what is deemed reasonable, there may be occasions when we consider complaints to be excessive.

There may be a complainant who, because of the frequency, nature, or tone of their contact with BHT Sussex, could adversely affect our ability to do our job and to provide a service to others.  BHT Sussex will refer to these complainants as unreasonably persistent.

Unreasonable or unreasonably persistent complainants are those who make complaints that:

  • Do not have any serious purpose or value.
  • Are designed to cause disruption or annoyance.
  • Have the effect of harassing BHT Sussex or can easily be seen as obsessive or unreasonable.

A complaint will only be deemed as unreasonable once it has been discussed and agreed by a member of the Executive Management Team (EMT).  If a complaint is deemed as being unreasonable, the complainant will receive one written warning confirming that if their actions and behaviour continues, it will result in BHT Sussex treating them as unreasonably persistent and future contact may be restricted.

Managers looking to implement this policy should do so in conjunction with the relevant Director or Chief Executive.  This policy will not be implemented until approved by a Director or the Chief Executive.

Depending on the level and nature of the complainant’s contact with BHT Sussex, the following action may be taken:

  • Requesting contact in a specific form (e.g. by letter only).
  • Requesting contact be made with a named officer only.
  • Setting the number of phone calls that will be accepted (e.g. one call a week).
  • Refusing to deal with future correspondence on the same matter if a decision has already been reached.

Offensive, abusive, or threatening behaviour will not be accepted.

Monitoring and Review

Operational Managers will ensure that data is recorded on In-Form, or another system where In-Form is not used, so that they can provide a summary report on the number of complaints received, the outcomes, whether the complainants are satisfied with how the complaints have been resolved, and the response times achieved (i.e. the number resolved within the specified time, the number resolved within an extended timescale, and the number not resolved within time).

Complaint response data will be collected and reported annually to the BHT Sussex Operations and Personnel Committee.

Further advice regarding complaints can be sought from:

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