PR6 Complaints and Working in Partnership

PR6.1 Working in Partnership with families and other agencies

Families

• Families are provided with written information about City Family CIC and its services, including information about the organisation’s safeguarding processes.
• Families are made to feel welcome by services.
• Every effort is made to ensure services are accessible for families with individual additional and specific needs.
• The expectations that City Family CIC Services make on families are made clear at the point of registration.
• There is sufficient opportunity for families to share necessary information with staff and volunteers and this is recorded and stored to protect confidentiality.
• Services are provided in a flexible way to meet the needs of families.
• There are effective means for communicating with families on all relevant matters and there is a complaints procedure which is referred to when necessary.
• Every effort is made to support families who have English as an additional language (EAL).
• Information about a child and his or her family is kept confidential within the organisation. The exception to this is where there is cause to believe that a child may be suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, or where there are concerns regarding child’s development that need to be shared with another agency. Parental permission will be sought unless there are reasons not to in order to protect the safety of the child. Reference is made to the Data Protection Policy PR7 and Safeguarding Procedure PR1 on seeking consent for disclosure.
• Families’ views are sought regarding changes in the delivery of services.
• Consultation with families is a continuous process which supports decision making and the further development of the organisation and its services.
• Families are actively encouraged to participate in decision making processes about services being delivered.

PR6 Standard Partnership with Parents and other Agencies

PR6.2 Complaints procedure

Complaints

• If a parent or other service user is unhappy about any aspect of their contact with the organisation or how they feel they have been treated, they should discuss with the member of staff they have been dealing with. The staff member will listen to the complainant and acknowledge what they are unhappy about. They will offer an explanation and an apology if this is appropriate. The issue and how it was resolved is recorded.
• If the complainant is not happy with the staff member’s response or they wish to complain about the staff member or other staff, they will be directed to a Project Lead. Some will want to make a written complaint; others may wish to make it verbally, in which case the Project Lead will write down the main issues of the complaint using the form from the Complaints Record and keep it on file.
• The Project Lead will investigate the complaint and provide time to feedback to the parent/service user within 28 days. A written report of the investigation is kept on file.
• If the complainant is still not satisfied, or if the complaint is about the Project Lead, they are asked to forward their complaint verbally or in writing to the CEO.
• The investigating person (Senior Team member or Project Lead) completes a record of the investigation in the Complaints Summary Record log.
• If the complainant is still not satisfied, they are entitled to make a complaint to the Chief Executive Officer. A member of staff, unconnected with the family/case will assist in any complaint investigation as well as produce documentation that records the steps they took in response to the original complaint.

A record of complaints will be kept for at least 3 years.

Complaints from other agencies

• If an individual from another agency wishes to make a formal complaint about a member of staff or any practice of City Family CIC, it should be made in writing to the Project Lead.
• The complaint is acknowledged in writing within 10 days of receiving it.
• The Project Lead investigates the matter and meets with the individual to discuss the matter further. This takes place within 28 days of the complaint being received. An agreement needs to be reached to resolve the matter.
• If an agreement is not reached the complainant may refer in writing, to the Chief Executive Officer, who acknowledges the complaint within 5 days and reports back to the complainant within 14 days.
• If the complainant is still concerned the complainant is referred to the Board of Directors.
• A complaint from an agency is recorded in a complaints file held separately but the result of the investigation is recorded in the Complaints Summary Record log

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Registered at Socata House I 543-545 London Road I Westcliff On Sea I Essex I SS0 9LJ

As part of the Women in the Workplace project, funded by DHSC and run by Pregnant Then Screwed and Best Beginnings, we are excited to share that we have received an Accreditation for the Empowered Foundations training with a focus on women's reproductive health in the workplace. As part of the training, our managers accessed modules based on the topics of pregnancy loss, fertility, flexible working and eliminating bias to better understand the use of language, ways to support members of staff and increase knowledge base around these specific topics. Here at City Family we are striving to improve the support available for the women in our workplace

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