Burning Nights CRPS Support aims to provide high quality services that meet your needs. We believe we achieve this most of the time, but if we are not getting it right, please let us know.

We seek to deal with comments and complaints in a respectful, open, timely and responsible way within the constraints of our resources. This is integral to our commitment to transparency and accountability. In turn, Burning Nights CRPS Support expects people who make a complaint to communicate their concerns fairly and appropriately. 

In order to ensure our CRPS counselling and therapy service remains at a high and improving standard, we have a procedure through which you can let us know if for any reason you are not satisfied with your dealings with the organisation. The purpose of the counselling complaints policy is to ensure that anyone who makes a complaint about any aspect of Burning Nights CRPS Support counselling services, has their complaint taken seriously. 

The complaint should be investigated and resolved (where possible) as quickly as possible. The policy is for clients, their carers, families and other connected persons. Information about the Complaints Procedure will be made available to all clients and displayed on the Burning Nights CRPS Support website.

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Introduction

Burning Nights CRPS Support views complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve for the future, as well as a chance to put things right for the person (or organisation) that has made the complaint.

Our policy is:

• To provide a fair complaints procedure which is clear and easy to use for anyone wishing to make a complaint
• To publicise the existence of our complaints procedure so that people know how to contact us to make a complaint
• To make sure everyone at Burning Nights CRPS Support knows what to do if a complaint is received
• To make sure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely way
• To make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved and that relationships are repaired
• To gather information which helps us to improve what we do

Definition of a Complaint

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, about any aspect of Burning Nights CRPS Support which is under the control of the Charity, its staff or volunteers – encompassing both our fundraising and advocacy work in the UK.

How To Give Us Feedback

Please address your feedback (comment, suggestion or complaint) initially to our Charity Administrator. You can contact us in whichever way is most convenient to you: mail, phone or email via any of the details below.

Please remember to give us your name, address and contact telephone number. Please be respectful of our staff and volunteers when you give your feedback. We will not respond to feedback that is abusive or offensive.

How To Make A Complaint

In the first instance, any complaint should be discussed informally with your counsellor, if possible. 

If you wish to make a formal complaint, please contact the Charity by phone, email or in writing. Burning Nights CRPS Support will do all they can to support you with this process. 

To help us investigate and address all complaints, we ask you to provide us with as much information as possible.

• The reason for your complaint
• Where and when what you’re complaining about happened
• The name(s) of anyone involved (if known)
• What outcome you are hoping for
• Your full contact details (name, address, daytime telephone number and/or email)

Contact Details for Complaints & Comments

• Write to: Burning Nights CRPS Support at, 1 Alder Brook, Chinley, High Peak, Derbyshire SK23 6DN
• Email: admin@burningnightscrps.org
• Tel: Verbal complaints may be made by phone to: +44 (0) 1663 795055 (Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm | Voicemail available)
• Or speak to any of Burning Nights CRPS Support staff or trustees at the same address as above or at any of our events

We aim to respond in full to complaints within 10 working days. Where the matter requires more detailed investigation, we will respond in full within 28 days.

If, for any reason, you are not happy with the resolution of your complaint, then just reply to us, explaining why you were not satisfied with our response and what you would like us to do to put things right.

What Happens After I Submit My Feedback? 

Your feedback will be logged, and either answered directly by the Charity Administrator or passed to the Chair of Trustees as appropriate. If you have requested a response, we will aim to acknowledge your feedback within ten (10) working days. 

All feedback will be reported to staff, volunteers and the Board of Trustees, so that they can see any comments received and learn from them. Comments and compliments will also be recorded and may be shared within Burning Nights CRPS Support so we can use your feedback to improve the way we work.

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1. Complaints of a superficial nature should be dealt with informally at the time of complaint by the counsellor.
2. This policy requires all staff and volunteers to inform their named contact or volunteer coordinator if a complaint is made directly to them in the first instance. If the complainant is not satisfied with the action taken, or if the complaint is of a serious nature, then the matter should be reported immediately to the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Burning Nights CRPS Support. When requested, the complainant will be given support in using the Complaints Procedure.
3. The Chair of the Board will then ask an appropriate member of staff or another Trustee to investigate and report the findings within ten (10) working days.
4. You will receive an initial acknowledgement and/or response within ten (10) working days of receipt of your complaint and we expect to resolve most problems in that time, unless a full reply can be sent within five (5) working days, and a full or interim report will be sent to them within twenty (20) working days of the date of receipt of the complaint.
5. When the investigation is complete, the Chair of Trustees will make a decision as to what action should be taken which may include further investigation.
6. The decision made and the actions taken shall be conveyed to the complainant in writing within the time limit previously stated. The Chair of the Board may use their discretion as to whether a visit would be helpful as well as, or instead of a letter.
7. If any complainant remains dissatisfied, an appeal can be made. The Chair of Trustees will do their own investigation and respond to the complainant within a further two (2) weeks.
8. Any appeal must be raised no more than 6 months after the end of the original investigation of your complaint.
9. All correspondence and notes referring to complaints will be kept in a locked cabinet in the complaints file in the Chair’s office and/or on our Google Drive with a password.
10. A register of complaints is maintained, including action taken. Trustees will receive a complaint report at their quarterly meeting. This gives a brief anonymous resume of the complaint and the action taken.

Where complaints are made anonymously, these will be noted but cannot be progressed without discussion with the complainant.

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If the complaint has not been resolved by the organisation’s complaints process, you can contact BACP at:

• 15 St John's Business Park, Lutterworth, Leicestershire, LE17 4HB
• Email: bacp@bacp.co.uk
• Tel: 01455 883300

Where the complaint is against an organisational member of BACP, or an individual working for a BACP organisational member, the organisation’s internal complaints process must be exhausted before the complaint can be submitted to BACP.

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All complaint information will be handled sensitively, telling only those who need to know and following any relevant data protection requirements.

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Our commitment to you is to address each complaint in a sensitive, fair, transparent, equitable, professional and unbiased manner through the complaints handling process.

We will operate at all times from the premise that any person is entitled to express their views on our services and that those views should be taken seriously where this is warranted. We will not, however, tolerate any abusive or discriminatory language or behaviour towards any of our staff, and may decline to investigate a complaint further in such circumstances.

As Burning Nights CRPS Support is a registered charity, the complainant can complain to the Charity Commission Regulator at any stage. Information about the kind of complaints the Charity Commission can involve itself in can be found on their website at: www.gov.uk/complain-about-charity

Charity Commission

If you are dissatisfied with Burning Nights CRPS Support complaints process, you can contact the Charity Commission, who will be able to advise on whether they can provide guidance in the matter. Burning Nights CRPS Support's charity registration number is 1166522 (England and Wales). 

The Charity Commission can be contacted at: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission

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This policy will be reviewed by the Board of Trustees every 2 years and all complaints received (and compliments) will be brought before the Board for review at our regular Board meetings. Through this process of regular review, we aim to improve our services to you and to ensure that any lessons learned are implemented within the organisation.

Complaints are reviewed annually to identify any trends which may indicate a need to take further action.

The Board may vary the procedure for good reason. This may be necessary to avoid a conflict of interest, for example a complaint about the Chair or a trustee should not also have the Chair and/or trustee involved as a person leading a Stage Two review.

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