1. Purpose and Scope of Policy
Bridewell is committed to upholding the quality of its service delivery in line with its corporate values. Bridewell is certified to industry quality standards and has established a Compliance Committee to oversee its security and quality programs.
Our intention at all times is to deal with people fairly and properly. If you feel that we have not met that standard, please let us know. Where there is reason to believe our conduct has fallen short, we want to be able to resolve any issues and learn from what has happened so that we can continuously improve.
This document explains how our Compliance Committee deals with complaints about Bridewell’s conduct from all external parties, such as members of the public and/or customers.
This policy does not cover complaints made by an external party relating to the conduct of a contractor. If you wish to comment on the performance or behaviour of a contractor, you should raise it directly with that organisation, using their own complaints procedure.
2. What is a complaint?
We will treat any expression of dissatisfaction about our conduct as a complaint. However, we ask you to contact us in writing as set out in the next section, so that we can consider the matter properly.
This policy covers complaints about:
How you or others have been treated by Bridewell;
Bridewell’s conduct in delivering our services under our contractual agreements;
Bridewell’s conduct and compliance with its own procedures processes and policies; and
The behaviour of Bridewell’s staff.
It may be the case that we receive correspondence that in our view does not fall under our definition of a complaint or does not raise any issue that calls for in depth investigation. This may apply, for instance, to:
objections to certain steps, recommendations or decisions we have taken in compliance with a legal requirement;
disapproval of the Compliance Committees refusal to take action in a matter where we have no grounds to act;
anonymous complaints; or
malicious, repetitive or vexatious claims such as harassment of staff or repeated submissions of a complaint to which a response under the ‘Review’ section of our complaints procedure has been provided. We will not reply to rude or abusive emails, calls or letters. In all other cases we will give brief reasons for our views but having done so once will not normally engage in further correspondence on the merits of the position we have taken.
The policy does not cover matters that are subject to separate procedures, which include the following:
Requests, or refusals for requests, for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Data Subject Access Requests under the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
Concerns raised by employees which are dealt with in line with our Employee Handbook.
3. How to complain
A complaint may be emailed to complaints@bridewell.com, or sent by post to:
Compliance Committee
40 Caversham Road
Reading
RG1 7EB
It will help us to deal quickly and fully with your complaint if you can state that you are making a complaint, set out your concern in writing as clearly as possible, and provide your contact details.
4. What you can expect from us when handling a complaint
Our policy is to take legitimate complaints seriously and deal with them according to the procedures set out in this policy.
We aim to deal with complaints promptly and sensitively and be courteous and helpful at all times. We would hope that you will also be courteous and fair in your dealings with our staff. All complaints received will be dealt with confidentially and in accordance with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
We will keep full and accurate records of all complaints we receive so that we can monitor the types of problems reported to us, the best way to resolve them and how long we are taking to deal with complaints. This also helps us to take a closer look at how we can improve in the future.
If you make a complaint, we will investigate it thoroughly and impartially, without discrimination or prejudice. We aim to resolve matters as promptly as we can, but if a complaint gives rise to serious issues, we may need to take extra time to investigate it fully and properly so that, wherever we can, we resolve the issue first time and learn from it and make improvements.
We will ensure that all decisions we make are proportionate, appropriate and fair given the circumstances of each individual complaint.
We will acknowledge your request to review the complaint within five working days of receipt. Again, we may need to contact you to ask for more information or clarity before making a final decision. We will aim to respond within 20 working days of receipt.
We aim to complete all complaints within the timescales above; however, if a complaint is very complex it may occasionally be necessary to extend the time limit. If this is the case, we will keep the complainant informed of progress with the investigation, the reasons for the delay, and the new deadline.
5. If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction
If having followed the stages of our complaints procedure you remain dissatisfied, you can ask to have your complaint reviewed.
You should contact the Chair of the Compliance Committee to request your complaint be referred to Bridewell’s Chief Executive. This can be done by emailing compliance.chair@bridewell.com or sent by post to:
Reading
RG1 7EB
6. Other information
Our Compliance Committee is informed of any complaints received about our Quality standards or its staff at each meeting.
The Compliance Committee welcomes any comments or suggestions about our complaints procedure, to make sure it operates as efficiently and effectively as possible. Please send any comments to us by email.