Managing Complaints

The family you are supporting must be able to raise a complaint if they are unhappy with the actions of your group or a particular group member. We hope that any concerns or frustrations can be managed informally, through a frank conversation. However, there may be times when a family member does not feel that this has been resolved, and would like to raise a formal complaint.

For this reason, the Home Office require you to include a formal Complaints Policy with your application. Luckily, the Home Office have created a template Complaints Policy and Procedures that you can use, and Reset have helpfully translated this into Arabic.

Attached - Template Complaints Policy and Procedures in English

Attached - Template Complaints Policy and Procedures in Arabic

You should give the family a copy of the formal policy in their native language, but we also recommend that you include a very clear summary of the procedures in their Welcome Information Pack which you can find in this module. And, it is very possible that the family you are supporting will be illiterate, so it is also important that you explain your Complaints Procedures in person during their first couple of weeks. You may need to repeat this a few times over the next few months, as they will have so much information to remember when they arrive.

Code of Conduct

We recommend that you develop a Code of Conduct between the group & family members, which outlines what behaviour you can expect from one another (for example, to arrive on time to appointments; to treat each other with respect; etc.) This will give you something concrete to refer to, should there be a complaint about someone's behaviour. We look at developing a Code of Conduct in this module.