Our complaints policy

This policy sets out how we deal with complaints, what customers can expect, and how we respond to the issues raised. It fulfils the requirement in the Corporate Governance Framework to approve, publish and maintain a Complaints policy and procedure covering the services provided by us to our customers. Our complaints policy provides for an independent assessment via the Parliamentary Ombudsman (with a separate review procedure for freedom of information matters).

The policy is aimed at anyone from outside of the Commission who uses our services.

We aim to give the best possible service to everyone we deal with. However, from time-to-time things do go wrong, and people who complain have a right to expect those instances to be dealt with properly. Handling complaints well is important to us – it reassures people that their concerns have been taken seriously, enables us to learn from anything we may have done wrong, or could do better, and reinforces public trust and confidence in us as an organisation. In our complaints handling, the Commission aims to:

• Be customer focused
• Put mistakes right
• Be open and accountable
• Act fairly and proportionately
• Seek continuous improvement

Our policy is designed to ensure that complaints about us are taken seriously and investigated in a thorough and impartial way. We will respond honestly and learn from complaints to improve our service. It shows that we are committed to being open and transparent, and responsive to fair and reasonable criticism. We want people to feel that their complaint has been dealt with properly, even if it is not upheld.

Customers can make a complaint in writing, by email or through the ‘contact us’ section on our website. Customers can also contact us on 0207 271 0604, by text phone (18001 7271 0500), or by asking somebody to contact us on their behalf. Customers can also make a complaint using alternative accessible formats, such as the signlive service, which provides British Sign Language interpretation.

This policy covers complaints relating to situations where we have:

• Failed to deal, or delayed dealing, with a matter
• Exhibited bias or unfairness, discrimination, or discourtesy
• Failed to follow proper procedures
• Made mistakes in carrying out our functions (this does not include disagreements over regulatory decisions – see ‘What is not dealt with under this procedure’)
• Failed in our standards of service

Broadly, the following are not dealt with under this policy, and a more detailed explanation is set out in paragraphs 8 to 12.

• Complaints about electoral registration, voting or polling station issues
• Complaints about the content of political advertising, or campaign and election material
• Requests for information (Freedom of Information requests)
• Complaints about decisions made as part of our statutory regulation of political parties or election finance
• Complaints about the way a Freedom of Information or Data Protection Act request has been handled
• Complaints relating to employment

In England and Wales, complaints about electoral registration, voting or polling station issues are the responsibility of the relevant local authority. In Scotland, complaints about voting or polling station issues are the responsibility of the relevant local council and complaints about electoral registration are the responsibility of the relevant Electoral Registration Officer. Customers can find the contact details for their local authority on our website, using a post code look up tool. In Northern Ireland, complaints about electoral registration, voting or polling station issues are the responsibility of the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland. Customers should contact these organisations directly. However, where we are made aware of such issues, we may monitor them.

Complaints relating to political advertising, campaign material or candidate behaviour should be made directly to the party or candidate in question. If a customer feels the content of the material constitutes a criminal offence, they should contact the police. Every police force has a dedicated Single Point of Conduct (SPOC) who may be contacted about such allegations.  

This complaints policy will not generally apply to our regulatory decisions. Regulatory decisions are any decisions we take as part of our statutory regulation of political parties or election finance, for example decisions whether or not to take enforcement action or the nature of that action, whether or not to register a political party and so on. Depending on the nature of the decision there are rights of challenge to these decisions by way of statutory appeals or judicial review. For further details, see our website.  

However where there is no right of statutory appeal, or alternative means of seeking redress in other existing policies, then this may be dealt with under the complaints procedure (for example, our statutory Enforcement Policy provides for a right of appeal against a decision not to open an investigation in response to an allegation of non-compliance with the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act). A customer would need to be explicit about the nature of their complaint, and evidence it where possible.

Where a customer makes a complaint that falls outside the scope of the complaints policy, but where the Commission can usefully provide information, then it will be treated as an enquiry.  

Complaints about the way a Freedom of Information request has been handled are covered through our Privacy policy.

We will try as hard as possible to respond to complaints in a way which makes the customer feel heard. If, however, a complaint is repeated without substance, or is unreasonable in nature, we will apply the process outlined in our Handling Unreasonable contact Behaviour Policy.

Customers must give their name, address (this can be an email address) and telephone number. We do not normally investigate anonymous complaints, although if the complaint raises issues of concern to us, we may conduct internal enquiries. Any anonymous complaints will be recorded and filed.

We are committed to equal opportunities and our aim is to make our corporate complaints policy easy to use and accessible to all our customers. We will take steps to make any reasonable adjustments you may need to access this policy, including providing complaint responses in alternative accessible formats.

We can provide this policy or a response to a complaint in Braille, audio, large print, signlive or easy read, by request through the Customer Services Team. The policy is available in Welsh and a response can be provided in Welsh by request through the same email address.

Customers will receive an acknowledgement of their complaint within five working days.

The Commission operates a two stage complaints procedure. In the first stage, the complaint will be investigated by the Senior Complaints Advisor. Once the investigation is concluded, a draft response will be prepared for final review by the Head of External Communications. Relevant staff will be consulted, as necessary.

We aim to respond to complaints within 20 working days. Where this is not possible, the customer will receive notification advising of the reason for the delay and a new response target date.

If the customer is not satisfied with the Commission’s response, they may ask for the complaint to be escalated to stage two of our complaints process where it will be reviewed by a member of the Executive Team. This request must be made within 14 working days of a stage one decision being issued.  

The Executive Team member will review the complaint, asking for further information if necessary. We will aim to respond to the customer within 20 working days of receiving the request.

The scope of the review will be to ensure that all information has been adequately considered, to consider the original decision on whether to uphold the complaint, and to consider any new information that the customer submits.  

Following this two-stage process if the customer is not satisfied, they can contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman or the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman to review the complaint.   

The Commission’s Executive Team will monitor the number of complaints received and the response times on a regular basis. Data on the number of complaints and response management is also included in performance reports, which the Commission Board review on a quarterly basis. On an annual basis the Commission Board also receives a report on complaints received within the year, which provides an overview of any trends and assurance that complaints are dealt with appropriately.

Public bodies must be thorough and impartial in responding to and investigating complaints. This policy reduces the risk of poor complaints handling resulting in dissatisfied complainants, organisational failure to learn and improve, or from escalation of legitimate complaints not dealt with.

The Handling Unreasonable Behaviour Policy should be referred to when the nature of customer contact with the Commission raises concerns.  

The Privacy Policy should be referred to when the complaint is about anything related to the Commissions handling of data protection.

Information on alternative methods of access for the purposes of making a complaint is included on our website.

The Director of Communications, Policy and Research has overall responsibility for the application of this policy.