Complaints and Feedback – Vision Foundation
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Complaints and Feedback

At Vision Foundation we welcome feedback about the way we work. We strive to be excellent in all that we do but we recognise that this cannot always be the case. When we make a mistake, we want to be informed. We will use the information to try to put things right and to help us to become more effective.

If you have a complaint or concern about us, we will aim to resolve it as quickly and efficiently as possible in a personal, fair and confidential way.

Getting in contact

You can send your complaint to us in any of the following ways:
• Letter: You can write to us at: Vision Foundation, 12 Whitehorse Mews, 37 Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7QD

• Phone: Call us on 020 7620 2066. Our lines are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. Outside of these hours you can always leave us a message and a contact number and someone will return your call.

• Email: hello@visionfoundation.org.uk

Please include your name, address and contact telephone number in your email or letter so that we can get back in touch with you easily.

Complaints Process

Stage 1 – Complaint
Our aim is to ensure every complaint is acknowledged and responded to within three working days. In some circumstances, it may not be possible to respond to a complaint within three days due to the nature of the complaint itself. When this happens, we will let you know that further investigation is needed and a further response or outcome will be communicated within 28 days of receiving the initial complaint.

Stage 2 – Formal Complaint
If you remain unsatisfied with the response from us, you can request that your complaint be investigated formally. Our aim is to ensure every formal complaint is acknowledged within three working days.

At this stage, your complaint will be investigated by an allocated member of our team. The outcome of our investigation will be provided within 28 days starting from the date when the formal complaint was received. If an extension is necessary, we will inform you of the reason and give an update on the new timescales.

Stage 3 – Appeal
If you’re not happy with our response to the formal complaint, please let us know and this will be looked into by a senior manager. This request for an appeal should be made in writing within seven days of receiving the formal complaint response and should lay out:
• the nature of the appeal;
• the steps already taken and details of the response received;
• a statement as to why you remain dissatisfied.

An acknowledgement to your request for an appeal will be sent within three working days of receiving your response. Upon receipt of your appeal, we will select a senior manager to conduct the appeal. The appeal will review the effectiveness of the formal investigation and whether its findings were consistent with the evidence.

The senior manager responsible for the review will write to you clearly setting out the outcome of their review and the rationale for their decision. The review will be completed within 28 days of receiving your request for an internal appeal. If an extension is necessary, we will inform you of the reason and provide you with an update on the new timescale.

Other information

Everyone who provides feedback to us will be treated with courtesy and respect. In return, we expect people who give feedback to communicate their concerns fairly and appropriately. Where people harass staff, behave abusively, or unreasonably pursue complaints, we reserve the right to withdraw or modify our feedback/complaints process.

There may be rare occasions when we chose not to respond to a complaint. These include:
– When a complaint is about something that we have no direct connection to. We may choose to reply to clear our name but we are not obliged to.
– When someone unreasonably pursues a complaint that we have already responded to. We may choose not to reply again, but we will inform you of our decision to do this.
– When a complainant is being obviously abusive, prejudiced or offensive in their manner.
– When a complainant is harassing a staff member.
– When a complaint is incoherent or illegible.
– When a complaint has clearly been sent to us and numerous other organisations as part of a bulk mailing or email. In this instance we can chose whether it is necessary for us to reply or not.
– We cannot respond to complaints made anonymously. However, we will investigate the complaint and use the information to improve in any way that we can.

Who else can help?

We really hope that our team is able to resolve your complaint in an honest, open and satisfactory way. However if after going through our complaints process, you are still unhappy then you can write to one of our external regulatory bodies:

Fundraising
We are committed to the highest standards in fundraising practice. If your complaint is to do with fundraising and you feel that it has been unresolved by us, then the Fundraising Regulator (www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk) can investigate your complaint.
You must contact them within two months of receiving your response from us. Contact can be made via the online complaints form here, or via telephone: 0300 999 3407. They can also be contacted at the address: Fundraising Regulator, 2nd Floor, CAN Mezzanine, 49-51 East Road, London, N1 6AH

Other areas of our work
If your complaint is related to another area of our work and you do not feel satisfied by our response then you can contact The Charity Commission (www.charity-commission.gov.uk) via telephone 0845 3000 218, or at the address: The Charity Commission, PO Box 1227, Liverpool, L69 3UG.