Complaints Policy
Policy statement
It is our policy to ensure that all agency workers have access to a procedure to help deal with any complaints relating to their engagement fairly and without unreasonable delay. If you have difficulty at any stage of the Complaints Procedure because of a disability or because English is not your first language, you should discuss the situation with a consultant or a Director.
Complaints brought maliciously and/or in bad faith may result in your engagement being terminated with MACH.
Raising complaints informally
Most complaints can be resolved quickly and informally through discussion with your consultant. If you feel unable to speak to your consultant, for example, because the complaint concerns him or her, then you should speak informally to a Director. If this does not resolve the issue, you should follow the formal procedure below.
Formal complaints
If your complaints cannot be resolved informally whether about a co-worker, client or a consultant of MACH you should put it in writing and submit it to your consultant or a Director indicating that it is a formal complaint. If the complaint concerns your consultant, you may submit it to a Director instead.
The written complaint should contain a brief description of the nature of your complaint, including any relevant facts, dates, and names of individuals involved. In some situations we may need to ask you to provide further information. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint in writing normally within 5 working days usually giving a guide time frame for the matter to be investigated and resolved.
Investigations
In some cases it may be necessary for us to carry out an investigation into your complaint. The amount of any investigation required will depend on the nature of the allegations and will vary from case to case. You must co-operate fully and promptly in any investigation. This may include informing us of the names of any relevant witnesses, disclosing any relevant documents to us and attending interviews, as part of our investigation.
Complaints meetings
In some cases we may - if appropriate - arrange a complaints meeting, normally within 10 - 15 working days of receiving your written grievance. We do however, reserve the right to respond in writing if we believe the complaint does not warrant a hearing or is best dealt with in writing.
If held, the purpose of a complaints meeting is to enable you to explain your complaint and how you think it should be resolved, and to assist us to reach a decision based on the available evidence and the representations you have made. We will write to you, usually within one week of the final complaints meeting or if no meeting is required by a designated date noted in our letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint, to inform you of the outcome and any further action that we intend to take to resolve the issues.
Appeals
If the complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction you may appeal in writing to a Director, stating your full grounds of appeal, within 5 days of the date on which the decision was sent or given to you.
We will hold an appeal meeting, normally within one week of receiving your written appeal. This will be dealt with impartially by a Director who has not previously been involved in the case if possible. We reserve our right to respond to the Appeal in writing if we believe the complaint does not warrant a hearing.
We will confirm our final decision in writing, usually within one week of the appeal hearing or within the time frame indicated in advance if we have dealt with your appeal in writing.
This shall be the end of the procedure, there is no further right of appeal.
