Introduction
This policy covers complaints that may arise about Carr Gomm Counselling Service (CGCS) from clients. Carr Gomm promotes a culture of understanding and promoting feedback to drive continuous improvement. The focus is on simplifying and streamlining the process to get it right first time to resolve any issue quickly for you.
Who handles complaints?
Complaints Officer is the term we use for the member of staff who will handle formal complaints. In practice, this will be the Counselling Service Manager, unless they are referenced in your complaint, in which case the Complaints Officer will be the Senior Operations Manager with responsibility for the Counselling Service or their delegate.
Who can complain?
- Current clients
- Former clients
- Clients on the waiting list
Anonymous complaints cannot be investigated, but will be logged and may be raised with the Counsellor concerned. If the complaint is considered vexatious or malicious by the Complaints Officer, then it will not be investigated, and the complainant will be informed.
Time limit
Complaints will only be dealt with if made within six months of the incident. We encourage complaints to be raised as soon as something goes wrong to enable an early resolution and to prevent the problem happening again.
Scope of complaints
Carr Gomm Counselling Service as an organisation works in line with the NCPS Code of Ethics and our terms of service which can be found on our New Client Information sheet. Individual counsellor practice will also be informed by their chosen professional body’s code of ethics and practice.
Complaints procedure
CGCS is committed to providing high quality support to clients (i.e. staff employed by Carr Gomm and their immediate family members) and we wish matters of concern to be resolved co-operatively, informally and as quickly as possible. However, should resolution of a concern not be possible between the people concerned, the following procedures and stages must be followed to raise a complaint.
Stage One: Informal Complaint
CGCS will endeavour to resolve complaints at a local level. In the first instance, you should raise any concerns as soon as possible directly via email, phone or video call with your allocated Counsellor who will address your concern with you. If resolution cannot happen at this level, you will be informed how to make a formal complaint. If your Counsellor resolves the issue at Stage 1, you may still request that your complaint is recorded for service quality monitoring purposes (see guidance below).
If your problem cannot be resolved between you and your allocated Counsellor informally, you may proceed with a formal complaint which will involve an investigation.
Stage Two: Formal Complaint
You should email your complaint (see guidance) to counselling@carrgomm.org to be logged and forwarded to the Complaints Officer. If the complaint relates to an individual or individuals, the person(s) complained against will be given a copy of your complaint.
The Complaints Officer will acknowledge your complaint within 7 working days and offer discuss the matter with you. You are required to give permission for pertinent confidential information to be disclosed to those involved in handling the complaint. The Complaints Officer may talk to the people involved as part of their investigation.
Aims of Complaints Investigation
- Establish what went wrong and offer an explanation.
- Enable discussion between CGCS and the complainant.
- Ensure an apology is given where appropriate.
- Identify action to ensure the problem doesn’t happen again.
The Complaints Officer will ensure that there is a digital record kept of your complaint and this record will only be accessible to people who become involved in dealing with the complaint. The Complaints Officer will decide if there is a case to answer by considering whether there is enough corroborating evidence to support the complaint and will inform you if there is not.
If the person(s) complained against have left CGCS, we will still investigate the complaint to identify any systemic issues and will offer the person(s) complained against to give their side of the story.
If your complaint raises any issues to do with child protection, legal or criminal matters, there may be formalities which will involve external bodies such as social work, police, legal or other specialist advice service. At the discretion of the Complaints Officer, with due regard to time restraints and confidentiality, the complaints process may be adjourned or put into recess if required to meet other obligations. The complaint process will be halted at any stage should it emerge that legal action is underway, pending or intended, until any legal process is complete. The process will be restarted at the point at which it was stopped, within a reasonable time.
You will receive written email notification regarding the outcome of your complaint within 10 working days of your discussion with the Complaints Officer. This email will be kept on file. If you are not satisfied with the outcome at this stage and you want to take it further, you would go to Stage 3.
Stage Three: Appeal
If you wish to appeal the outcome at Stage 2, please email counselling@carrgomm.org (see guidance) within 10 working days of receiving the email regarding the outcome of Stage 2. You must state why you are unsatisfied with the outcome of Stage 2 and what you would like to happen next. If no email appeal is received within 10 working days of the outcome of your Stage 2 complaint, the file will be closed.
Formal Consideration of your Appeal
Your appeal will be dealt with by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or person delegated by them such as another member of the executive team who is independent of CGCS and the complaints process thus far. The CEO or delegate will contact you within 10 working days of receiving your email to offer to discuss your appeal in a face-to-face (online) meeting. You may be accompanied by a support person, but they cannot act on your behalf. You must tell us the name of the person who will accompany you in advance. Unless there are exceptional circumstances this meeting must take place within 28 days of the offer being made. If this offer is not taken up within this timescale the complaint will be closed. At the meeting the person dealing with your complaint will aim to satisfactorily resolve the issue. Another employee will be present to take notes of the meeting, and you will be entitled to see and comment on the notes. Thereafter an email response to your complaint would normally be expected within 21 days including any action taken or planned. At the conclusion of the complaints procedures a report will be submitted to NCPS and will include any training / sanctions imposed and how this will be monitored.
Stage Four: Complaint to relevant Professional Body
As CGCS is a Recognised Counselling Service by the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS), you may contact NCPS via their organisation complaints process if you believe that we have not followed our complaints process appropriately or accurately. However, you must follow all steps set out in our process, including any appeals process, before contacting the Society. If you fail to do so, you will be referred back to CGCS. NCPS cannot make a ruling on the complaint itself.
You also have a right to make a complaint to the individual Counsellor’s relevant PSA (Professional Standards Authority) Accredited Register and/or Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) where appropriate, if you consider that they are in breach of any ethical code or GDPR. CGCS will provide you with details of the individual Counsellor’s relevant PSA Accredited Register or ICO Registration Number, where applicable, to allow you to follow their complaints procedure. Should you wish to move to Stage 4, please let us know by emailing us (see guidance below) so that we can consider any appropriate sanctions regarding the Counsellor’s work for CGCS.
Guidance for submitting your complaint
When emailing us about your complaint, it would helpful if could provide us with the following information so that we can deal with your complaint promptly and efficiently:
Please indicate if you are:
- A current client
- A former client
- On the waiting list
Please tell us if your complaint is about:
- The service as an organisation
- An individual Counsellor (or Counsellors) – if so, please provide their name
If you wish to have a Stage 1, resolved complaint recorded for service quality monitoring, please let us know what went wrong, how it was resolved, and the member of staff involved:
If you are making a:
Stage 2 complaint, please describe your complaint in as much detail as possible. Please indicate below who or what you are complaining about, what has gone wrong, when this happened and how you would like it to be resolved:
Stage 3 appeal, please describe why you are unhappy with the outcome of Stage 2 and what you would like to happen next.
Stage 4 external complaint to a relevant Professional Body
Please follow NCPS organisation complaints process if you believe that we have not followed our complaints process appropriately or accurately.
If you wish to make a complaint about an individual counsellor, please advise the name of the counsellor and, stating the relevant professional standards that have been breached.
If you wish to have someone support you in making your complaint, please tell us their name and relationship to you.
By submitting your complaint, you authorise:
- The nominated Counselling Service Complaints Officer to ask questions of the Counsellor about his/her behaviour in respect of the complaint
- The Counsellor to disclose confidential and other information pertinent to the questions asked by the Complaints Officer in relation to the complaint
Contact details
Please email your complaint or any questions about this policy to counselling@carrgomm.org.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.