Making a Complaint: Income Generation

Guidance on how to raise a concern or make a complaint about the Kirkwood’s Income Generation Activity

1. Introduction

Our donors, customers and supporters are an integral part of The Kirkwood community and we aim to always act with respect and sensitivity when we raise the income to deliver our care. We sometimes get it wrong, but in those circumstances, we will do all we can to put things right and to learn from our mistakes.

We value feedback regarding our fundraising and retail activity and, in the event of a complaint, aim to resolve issues as quickly as possible, and informally through dialogue if we can.

 

2. Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide a clear process for advising anyone who wishes to raise a concern or make a complaint about our income generation activity and to set out the action that will be taken to ensure that your concerns or complaints are investigated and dealt with in an open, sensitive, transparent, timely and confidential manner.

 

3. Making a suggestion

Often people feel more comfortable about suggesting improvements rather than complaining formally. We welcome suggestions from anyone who supports The Kirkwood, and those across the whole of the community we serve.

In the first instance, please speak to the person in the fundraising or retail team that you are in direct contact with, they will be pleased to hear any suggestions you may have.

Alternatively, The Kirkwood has a range of methods for collecting feedback or suggestions from supporters. You can speak to us in person at the hospice (Dalton site), or at any of our shops out in the community across Kirklees.

Alternatively, you can contact is us by letter/ e-mail or telephone, our contact details are below.

Chief Executive
The Kirkwood
21 Albany Road
Dalton
Huddersfield
HD5 9UY

Email: info@thekirkwood.org.uk
Telephone: 01484 557 900

 

4. Raising a concern

A ‘concern’ is defined as any issue which whilst supporting or being asked to support The Kirkwood has caused concern and when raised with The Kirkwood representative the issue is resolved satisfactorily at or around the time it has taken place or when remedial action has been agreed. 

You can raise a concern:

• In person
• By telephone
• Email
• In writing
   

You can raise a concern with any The Kirkwood employee or volunteer at any time, they will listen carefully and record your concern, they will always deal with you sensitively and in confidence and will ensure that your concern is passed to the appropriate person within the Income Generation Department, who will then take the necessary action including contacting you about your concern and the action they have taken or intend to take.

If your concern is not resolved satisfactorily it will be then treated as a complaint. 

 

5. Making a complaint

We aim to handle complaints quickly, effectively and in a fair and honest way. We take all complaints seriously and use valuable information from investigating them to help us improve our fundraising.

All complaints are treated sensitively and taken seriously and can be made:

• In person
• By telephone
• By email
• In writing
• Through social media

We will acknowledge any complaints within 5 working days.

With complaints made via our social media platforms Facebook and Twitter which are regularly and frequently monitored. An acknowledgement will be posted on the relevant platform by the Media and Marketing Team. This acknowledgement will include a request to contact The Kirkwood offline to agree your preferred form of future communication.
​This information will then be forwarded onto the relevant Manager. If out of normal office hours this will happen on the next working day.

Where someone complains verbally, we will make a written record and provide a copy of it within 5 working days by letter or by e-mail

Following an acknowledgement we will contact you no later than 20 working days to respond to your complaint.  If there are likely to be any delays with our investigation, we will contact you as soon as possible to explain why.

 

6. Anonymous complaints

We deal with anonymous complaints under the same procedure; however, it is better if you can provide contact details as we may need additional information from you and we can also tell you about the outcome of our investigations.

 

7. Responsibility

The Chief Executive for The Kirkwood has overall responsibility for dealing with all complaints made about any activities.

We will provide as far as is reasonably practical any help you need to understand the complaints procedure; or advice on where you may get that help.

 

8. Escalating your Complaint

Any complaint that cannot be dealt with by the relevant departmental manager can be referred to the Head of Retail (for retail complaints) or the Fundraising Team Manager (for fundraising or lottery complaints), by telephone or in writing.

Any complaint that cannot be dealt with by the Head of Retail/Fundraising Team Manager can be referred to the Director of Income Generation and Marketing, by telephone or in writing.

If a complaint cannot be resolved by the Director of Income Generation and Marketing, it can then be referred to the Chief Executive, by telephone or in writing.

 

9. Time limits

You should make a complaint as soon as you can after the date on which the event occurred or came to your notice. If you complain more than twelve months later, we may not be able to investigate properly. But we shall also consider whether you had good reason for not making the complaint sooner and whether, despite the delay, it is still possible to investigate the complaint effectively and fairly.

 

10. Further steps

At any stage during the process, if you are not happy with the way The Kirkwood is dealing with your complaint you can contact the Chief Executive Officer at our address in section 3.

 

11. Appeals Process

Once we have dealt with your complaint, if you are not happy with the result you can write to the Chair of Trustees at the above address within 10 working days of receipt of the letter informing you of the outcome of the investigation. 

If after due consideration the Chair of Trustees decides that a secondary investigation is warranted, you will be informed in writing within a further 10 working days.

A different Complaints Investigator will be allocated to your case and a second investigation commenced.

If after due consideration the Chair of Trustees decides that no further action is to be taken the complaint is closed and the outcome recorded. 

If you have reached the final stage of The Kirkwood’s complaints procedure and still believe we have not resolved your complaint satisfactorily, you can contact one of our regulators.

For Fundraising or Retail complaints, The Kirkwood is registered with the Fundraising Regulator, and we agree to being bound by the outcome of any investigation they perform.

You can contact the Fundraising Regulator via their website: www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk or in writing:  

Fundraising Regulator
2nd Floor CAN Mezzanine Building
49-51 East Road
London
N1 6AH

Telephone: 0300 999 3407

For complaints specifically about our Lottery, your complaint can be referred for arbitration. This will be through The Independent Betting Adjudication Service Limited (IBAS) and you can contact them using the details below:

The Independent Betting Adjudication Service Limited
PO Box 62639
LONDON
EC3P 3AS

Tel: 020 7347 5883
Website: www.ibas-uk.co.uk