COMPLIMENTS AND COMPLAINTS

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The Veteran Community Network (VCN) aims to provide its members and service users with the best possible service. We are committed to continually improving our services through your feedback, whether this is a compliment or a complaint. Compliments let us know we are doing things right; complaints mean we may need to learn from them and change our current practice. So, we recognise that, from time to time, users of our services may feel that the quality or level of service provided falls short of what they could reasonably expect.

We greatly value your continued goodwill, and we would expect to resolve any day-to-day difficulties or complaints informally and as quickly as possible. In the first instance, we would encourage you to raise any feedback you may have about the service you have received directly with the member of staff concerned or with the Service Director. Many issues can be addressed and resolved at this more informal stage.

If you do not feel the matter has been resolved at this informal stage, then you canmake a formal complaint. The more formal procedure outlined below is intended for use by members and other users of our services, where informal communication has not resolved the problem.

Complaints should be made within 12 months of the date of the event that you’re complaining about or as soon as the matter first came to your attention.

The complaint should be made in person, by telephone, letter, or email to the Service Director, who will acknowledge receipt in writing within five working days. If the complaint concerns the Service Director, it will be passed on, in the first instance, to one of the Trustees who is independent of the Service Director. Please provide as much detail as you can about what has happened, when this happened, who was involved, and what resolution you are looking for as an outcome to your complaint.

The Service Director will investigate the circumstances leading to the complaint and will communicate the results of the investigation to the complainant within a reasonable time – normally within 20 working days of the complaint being received. If the complaint is found to be justified, the Service Director will agree on any necessary further action with the complainant.

If you would like to give us a compliment or make a formal complaint, in the first instance, please contact:

Dr Gillian Le Page

Service Director

Veterans Community Network

Email: gill@vcn.org.uk 

The complainant will have the right, if dissatisfied with the results of the enquiry, to put their case, in writing, to an appeal panel of two Trustee Board members who have not been involved in the investigation and are not connected to the Service Director.

If the appeal is found to be justified, the appeal panel will agree on any necessary further action with the complainant. 

The Service Director will keep the Trustee Board informed of the number and nature of complaints, as well as their outcomes. S/he will report to the Board about Complaints at each Trustee meeting.

All service users/beneficiaries will be made aware of VCN’s Compliments & Complaints Policy via our Website and our Consent Form.