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Feedback and complaints procedure

Atherton & Leigh Foodbank is committed to delivering a high standard of service to anyone who engages with our work. We believe that the best way to improve our service is by learning from the people who use it.

We welcome comments, compliments and complaints from the people who use our food bank, referral agencies, volunteers and anyone else we come into contact with in our work. These help us to see what we are doing well and where we can make improvements.

Feedback

We welcome feedback, compliments and suggestions on how we can provide a better service, so we know what we’re doing well and how we can continually improve what we do for the people we serve.
If you have any comments, please speak to our staff or volunteers or email us at

[email protected]



Complaints Procedure

 

We aim to promote an environment where people are encouraged to raise and discuss issues informally and, where necessary, seek solutions to prevent them developing into problems or complaints. However, we recognise that there may be situations where people are not happy with the outcome of an informal discussion or feel that the issue needs to be taken further.  In these cases, Atherton & Leigh Foodbank has a complaints procedure so that we can work towards a resolution in a fair and transparent manner.

Our promise and commitment

We recognise that there may be times when our services and activities do not meet your expectations. If this happens, it is important that we know about it as soon as possible so that we can deal with the situation effectively to try to prevent it from happening again and to learn from our mistakes. We promise to take all concerns and complaints seriously and to deal with them in a timely manner.

How to register a complaint or raise a concern 

If you have a complaint, or would like to raise a concern, on any aspect of our service, you can contact us in one of the following ways:

• In person to staff/volunteers at the food bank
• By phone: 07530 162920
• By email:[email protected]
• Write to the following address:

Atherton & Leigh Foodbank

c/o St John the Baptist CE Parish Church

Market Place

ATHERTON

M46 0DD

Please give us as much information as you can so we know what your concern/complaint is about, and please tell us what you would like to see happen as a result.

Please include your full name and your preferred contact details.

What will happen after I complain?

1. We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receipt and provide you with the name of the person responsible for investigating the matter on your behalf.
2. The person responsible for the investigation will write to you with their findings and proposed resolution within twenty eight days from receipt of the complaint*.
3. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation you may appeal or escalate your concerns to Chair of Trustees, letters must be received within twenty one working days of the date on the correspondence notifying you of the outcome of the first investigation.
4. The complaint will be reinvestigated and you will be informed of the outcome within 10 working days*.

* unless the complaint is particularly complex or time-consuming, in which case you will be kept informed of the progress of the investigation and notified of the expected date of completion.

Wherever possible, Atherton & Leigh Foodbank will respect your confidentiality and keep your complaint confidential as far as possible. Any information about the complaint will usually only be shared with those who need to know in order to help resolve it.  

There may, however, be occasions when we cannot provide absolute confidentiality, for example in circumstances where a child or vulnerable adult may be at risk of harm.

Data Privacy Statement

Atherton & Leigh Foodbank is registered as a data controller with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number Z3524725 .

We use the personal information that you provide in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 to process your complaint. We have a legitimate interest in holding this information in order to be able to monitor and improve our services.

We will collect personal information including your name and contact details, including postal address, telephone number, email address and social media contact information, in order to be able to investigate your complaint and to communicate with you about it. We will also collect sufficient information about the situation that you are contacting us about to be able to understand what has happened and help you seek a resolution to your complaint.

Where your complaint relates to services involving our partners, for example a referral agency or the Trussell Trust, then we may need to share your information with a third party. 

We keep this information for twelve months after your complaint has been closed, unless we have a requirement to keep it longer, in which case we will inform you of this. After this time the data will be aggregated and anonymised.  For further information about how we use your personal information see our Privacy Policy – available at https://athertonleigh.foodbank.org.uk/privacy/

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