Feedback and Complaints

Abstract colourful image of a speech bubble against a background of silhouettes of people's heads. Image © FreshIdea / Adobe Stock
Image © FreshIdea / Adobe Stock
All feedback is important to us. We want to make it as easy as possible for all those who interact with the SoA to provide feedback or to complain, if necessary.

Glossary of Terms

Complaint: An expression of grievance that something has gone wrong or is not satisfactory in relation to a standard of service, action or lack of action by the SoA, which affects an individual member or group of members in their interactions with the SoA.

Concern: An issue or anything else that worries you, or that you consider to be a matter of interest or importance to the SoA. This may relate to staff, members or to those acting on its behalf, or anything that might affect an individual or group within the SoA, but which is not a complaint.

Feedback: Information or statements of opinion about a service which SoA provides, services received, or anything else which relates to the services that the SoA provides. Feedback is used by the SoA as the basis for improvement.

About the SoA Complaints procedure

This complaints procedure is for use by our members and service users who:

  • Make use of our advisory or other member services
  • Attend our events or meetings
  • Apply for our prizes and grants
  • Interact with the SoA in some way, for example, acting as a judge or an assessor, in relation to something connected with the SoA or who receives a communication from us directed to them personally.

Feedback

Your comments help us to monitor how we’re doing in providing our services to you. If you want to raise an issue or provide feedback (good or bad), please email us. We’ll do our best to resolve your issue and we’ll provide an initial response within 10 working days. Please note that feedback falls outside the complaints procedure below.

Complaints

If something has gone wrong and you wish to lodge a complaint, please use the procedure below. Depending on the severity of your complaint, we will aim to resolve the issue informally in the first instance. Complaints must be about a service that the SoA provides. If you make a complaint about a service that is not provided by the SoA, we will inform you of this, and if we can, we will advise you on where to direct the complaint or how it might be resolved.

How we handle unacceptable behaviour

We encourage anyone who is the victim of any form of bullying or harassment when interacting with the SoA or using any of our services to report it to us as soon as possible. All complaints that are raised will be taken seriously. However, if after initial review we believe that criminal activity may have occurred, your complaint will be suspended pending police investigation.

Our complaints procedure aims to ensure that the SoA remains a respectful, considerate and professional organisation. We will signpost people to appropriate action in the face of any breaches of our Dignity and Respect Policy.

Please note that we can only deal with complaints in relation to interactions that occur during SoA business activities.

Please let us know if you need any extra support when we contact you, for example, a larger font size.

If you have questions about this complaints procedure, please email us.

How to complain

What to do if you have a complaint relating to your interactions with the SoA.