11. Stage 1
The complaint will be acknowledged within 5 working days and we will explain the procedure and timescales for responding We will also outline any aspect of the complaint which we cannot consider.
The complaint will be investigated by an appropriate officer, usually the Assistant Director for the service or the Service Lead where there is no Assistant Director, with input from other officers as required. A response will be prepared and sent to the complainant within 10 working days of acknowledgement, where this is practical, but where this is not possible due to the complexity of the matter to which the complaint relates or other exceptional or unforeseen circumstances, we will make this known to the complainant and provide an indicative timescale when a full response will be provided. This correspondence will include contact details for the relevant Ombudsman.
The stage 1 response will include:
- A definition and description of the complaint
- The decision on the complaint
- The reasons for any decision made
- Details or any remedy offered to put things right
- Details and timescale for any outstanding actions
- Details of how to escalate the complaint to stage 2 if the individual is not satisfied. This should be within one month