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Complaints
Policy
COMPLAINTS POLICY
Our organisation aims to be fair, open, and honest when dealing with any complaint. We give careful consideration to all complaints and deal with them as swiftly as possible.
We believe our organisation provides good training for all our learners and the MDs, senior management, and staff work very hard to build positive relationships with parents, employers, and stakeholders. However, the training centres are obliged to have procedures in place in case there are complaints. We treat a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction with our service which calls for a response.
The following policy sets out the procedure that Workpays follows in such cases.
Aims and Objectives
We aim to be fair, open and honest when dealing with any complaint. We give careful consideration to all complaints and deal with them as swiftly as possible. We aim to resolve any complaint through dialogue and mutual understanding and, in all cases, we put the interests of the learner above all other issues. We provide sufficient opportunity for any complaint to be fully discussed and then resolved.
Complaints Procedure
If a parent/guardian/employer is concerned about anything to do with the training we are providing at Workpays, they should, in the first instance, discuss the matter with the tutor/trainer. Most matters of concern can be dealt with in this way. All tutors work very hard to ensure each learner is happy and is making good progress; they always want to know if there is a problem so action can be taken before the problem seriously affects the learner’s progress.
Where a parent/guardian/employer feels a situation has not been resolved through contact with the tutor/trainer or that their concern is sufficiently serious, they should make an appointment to discuss it with the operations manager. The operations manager considers any such complaint very seriously and will investigate each case thoroughly. Most complaints are normally resolved at this stage. If, however, an issue is not resolved by the operations manager, the matter will be passed to the Head of the relevant department or the Regional Director.
Only if an informal complaint fails to resolve the matter should a formal complaint be made to the Head of the relevant department or the Regional Director. This complaint must be made in writing, stating the nature of the complaint and how the organisation has handled it so far. The parent/guardian/employer should send this written complaint to the Head of the relevant department or the Regional Director.
The Head of the relevant department or the Regional Director must consider all written complaints within 10 working days of receipt, arrange a meeting to discuss the complaint and invite the person making it to attend the meeting, so their complaint can be explained in more detail. The organisation gives the complainant at least 3 days' notice of the meeting.
After hearing all the evidence, the Head of the relevant department or the Regional Director will consider her decision and inform the parent/guardian/employer about it in writing within 5 working days following the meeting. They will do all they can at this stage to satisfactorily resolve the complaint.
If the complaint is not resolved to the satisfaction of the parent/guardian/employer, then the Head of the relevant department or the Regional Director will arrange for a hearing before a panel with at least three people who must not be directly involved. One member of the panel will be the managing director. The parent/guardian/employer has the right to be represented at this hearing. All the evidence will be considered and a further judgement made in an attempt to resolve the complaint. The result of this hearing, together with any recommendations will be given in writing within one week of the hearing. A copy of the findings and any recommendations will be distributed to the complainant, the proprietor, the managing director and where relevant, the person complained about.
If the matter is still not resolved then the complaint will be referred to the local authority.
In the case of a learner under 16 years old, if the parent/guardian/employer is still not content that the complaint has been dealt with properly, they are entitled to appeal to the secretary of state for education.
Monitoring and Review
The Excellence Team monitors the complaints procedure to ensure all complaints are handled properly. Senior management log all complaints received and records how they were resolved. The Excellence Team examines this log annually.
This policy is made available to all parents/guardians and employers so they can be properly informed about the complaints procedure.
Confidentiality
All correspondence, statements and records of complaints shall remain confidential at all times.
Policy reviewed: January 2023