ECM Britain Complaints Handling Procedure
Our complaints policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality service to all our missionary volunteers, sending churches, supporters and other clients (our ‘customers’). When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. Our aim is:
- to deal with complaints fairly, efficiently and effectively;
- to ensure that all complaints are handled in a consistent manner throughout;
- to increase customer satisfaction;
- to use complaints constructively in the planning and improvement of all services.
If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details. Where possible, we will aim to resolve this informally via telephone or face to face. If the informal process fails, then we will follow the formal procedure below on receipt of your complaint. Please ensure that you give us details of the complaint in writing via post or email to personnel@ecmi.org We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time you may complain to the British Director (or Chair of Trustees where the British Director is involved).
What will happen next?
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our HR Manager or other appropriate member of the Management Team, who will contact you to check your details and review the matter and speak to the member/s of staff who were involved.
3. The Manager will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. This will be done within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. You are entitled to be accompanied to this meeting by a colleague or friend.
4. Within three days of the meeting, the Manager will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions that have been agreed with you.
5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, the Manager will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including their suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for the British Director, or Chair of Trustees where the British Director is involved, to review the decision. Their decision is final.
7. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
8. If as a result of your complaint, disciplinary proceedings are taken against a member of staff, an internal procedure will apply. You will be informed that disciplinary proceedings have taken place, but as these proceedings are confidential, you will only be informed of the details or outcome of matters outside of this procedure.
9. If a criminal offence is alleged, then the police will be informed.
Alternatively if your complaint is related to another area of our work and you do not feel completely satisfied by our response then you can contact The Charity Commission at the address below.
The Charity Commission
PO Box 1227
Liverpool
L69 3UG
0845 3000 218
September 2021
