Stage One: Review by the Service Coordinator

The complaints procedure starts with the service coordinator.
He or she will write to acknowledge your complaint within five working days and look into the circumstances surrounding it.

If it is not possible for you to make your complaint in writing, or for someone you choose to do this on your behalf, you will be invited to meet with the coordinator who will write it down. You will be asked to sign this to confirm that it is an accurate statement of the complaint.

We aim to respond in full to a complaint within 20 working days. If for any reason it is not possible to keep to this timescale, the delay will be explained.

If your complaint is upheld, you will receive a full apology and, where appropriate, details of whatever action we can take to put matters right, or at least prevent similar problems arising in the future.

If it is the service coordinator that you are unhappy with, the complaint will go straight to Stage Two.

Stage Two: Review by the Board of Directors

The letter you receive from the service coordinator will also inform you of your right to ask for a review should you not be satisfied with the outcome of stage one.

Shetland Link Up (including Lifeline, Art Therapy and Women of Worth) is an independent charity and Limited Company, run by and accountable to its own Board of Directors. The next stage is the responsibility of a panel of three Directors, selected on the basis of their relevant experience.

The process followed by the panel in reviewing the complaint is very similar to stage one - the same target times for responses apply and there is the same obligation for an apology, where owed, and for putting things right, if possible.

The Chair of the panel will check that the investigation has been carried out fully and properly.

He/She will check that the main points of the complaint have been addressed and look at any outstanding issues you have raised.

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