Complaints Policy | Generations Church

1. General policy

1.1 The trustees and directors of Generations Church take complaints seriously and commit to dealing with all complaints in a confidential, timely and appropriate manner.

1.2 Our policy is:

To provide a fair complaints procedure which is clear and easy to use;
To make sure that trustees and directors, volunteers and staff are aware of this policy and know how to handle complaints;
To ensure in all cases that complaints are handled using Biblical principles and that wherever possible, disputes and disagreements are amicably resolved and that relationships are restored;
To gather information which helps us improve what we do in the future.

1.3 All complaints and any associated information provided will be handled sensitively, and in accordance with relevant data protection requirements. However, the trustees and directors reserve the right to involve external parties (including the police and other authorities) and to take legal advice where this is considered necessary.

1.4 The overall responsibility for this policy and its implementation rests with the trustees and directors of generations Church.

1.5 In preparing this policy, Generations Church has paid due consideration to the good governance code referred to in the Charity Commission guidance on completing annual returns.

2. Receiving complaints

2.1 Complaints may be addressed to any trustee either orally or in writing or lodged in either of the following addresses:

Generations Church, Cannon Street House, Louth, LN11 9NL
Generations Church, Wingate Road, Grimsby, DN37 9EL

2.2 Where complaints are received by other contacts in Generations Church, complainants will be directed towards a member of the leadership team in the first instance.

2.3 At the time of receiving the complaint, or within any initial response, complainants will be informed of the existence of this policy and provided with a copy if requested.

2.4 Generations Church operates a safeguarding policy, which covers children and vulnerable adults. Where complaints refer to people or activities covered by this policy, such complaints will be handled in accordance with the safeguarding policy. In instances where the policies conflict, those contained in the safeguarding policy will carry precedence.

2.5 In the case of complaints made by a parent, guardian or other responsible adult to any member of the children’s or youth ministry teams, these will automatically be passed to the Designated Safeguarding Lead who is part of the leadership team. Such complaints will then be handled in accordance with the safeguarding policy.

2.6 In certain cases and for the avoidance of doubt, the trustees and directors or leadership team may request oral complaints to be repeated in writing, and reserve the right to share these complaints with other trustees or members of the leadership team as they see appropriate.

2.7 Oral complainants must be informed that certain aspects of oral complaints will be recorded (either at the time or later) including but not limited to:

The name and contact details of the complainant;
The date and time that the complaint was received;
The substance of the complaint;
Any formal relationship that the complainant has with Generations Church.

2.8 Oral complainants must be informed that although complaints will be handled confidentially, the trustees and directors may share these with other trustees and directors or members of the leadership team in accordance with this policy.

2.9 All complaints, together with any actions undertaken, will be recorded in a complaints log which will be reviewed by the trustees and directors on a regular basis. Any conclusions and further action required as a result of this review will be formally recorded in the minutes of a directors and trustees meeting, and the complaints log annotated accordingly.

2.10 Where the complaint relates to a specific person the trustees and directors may choose to inform that person of the nature of the complaint and to receive a formal response from them. The name and any other sensitive information provided by the complainant will not be shared with the subject of the complaint.

3. Resolving complaints

3.1 Complaints will be acknowledged by the trustees, or directors within two weeks of being received. The acknowledgment will include details of who is dealing with the complaint and when the complainant can expect to have a response. Any first response should include a copy of this policy if not already provided.

3.2 The trustees and directors will use best endeavours to provide a definitive response within one month of receiving the complaint. If, because of ongoing investigations or for other reasons this is not possible, a progress update will be provided to the complainant within one month of receiving the complaint.

3.3 A definitive response will include:

Actions taken to investigate the complaint;
Conclusions drawn from the investigation;
Actions taken as a result of the investigation.

4. Appeals and escalation

4.1 Where the complainant is not satisfied with the response, they should inform the trustees and directors of this dissatisfaction in writing within three months of receiving the response.

4.2 Due to the size of Generations Church it is likely that the same group of trustees and directors that dealt with the original complaint will be responsible for reviewing the appeal. Wherever possible a different trustee or director will take the lead in investigating the appeal.

4.3 As long as this notice of dissatisfaction is received within the timeframe set out in 4.1, the trustees and directors will acknowledge this correspondence within two weeks and will use best endeavours to provide a definitive response within a further month. Notices of dissatisfaction that are received outside of that timeframe will be considered at the discretion of the trustees/directors.

4.4 This appeal decision will be considered final. At any time, the complainant can complain directly to the Charity Commission or any other appropriate regulating authority. The information about the types of complaints that the Commission can become involved with are set out on their website.