Policy Statement

Enginuity:

• is committed to exceeding expectations by providing quality services to beneficiaries, customers and third parties.
• will take seriously any concern or complaint and will review in line with the timeframes outlined in the Enginuity Complaints Procedure.
• recognises that all beneficiaries, customers and third parties have the right to raise concerns or complaints about our products and services; and have access to clear information that sets out how they may voice complaints and concerns.
• will recognise the concerns raised and understands that the complaints procedure is open to everyone who receives or requests a product or service from Enginuity and all those people acting on Enginuity’s behalf.
• will keep a register of all complaints and reports these to the Enginuity Board as required.
• will use the complaints procedure as part of the process of monitoring the quality, effectiveness, and un-biased approach of delivering its products and services.
• will ensure that all staff and third parties are aware of this policy to allow them to read, understand and comply with it and the associated procedure.
• is committed to being transparent, robust, and independent in its handling of complaints.
• will incorporate any lessons learnt from complaints into our monitoring and review processes.

2.   Introduction

Enginuity strives for high standards in the products and services delivered and welcomes feedback from individuals, users of our products and services, stakeholders, external bodies, and anyone who works with Enginuity.  Such feedback is invaluable in helping Enginuity evaluate and improve its products and services.

The objectives of Enginuity’s complaints policy and procedure are to:

• Ensure everyone knows how to make a complaint and how a complaint will be handled.
• Ensure that complaints are dealt with consistently, fairly, and sensitively within clear time frames.
• Provide individuals with a fair and effective way to complain where necessary.
• Ensure that complaints are monitored to improve products and services.

Enginuity will ensure that it:

• Listens carefully to those raising concerns and understand the complaint whilst treating the information confidentially, where possible.
• Records, stores, and manages all complaints accurately and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations.
• Investigates the complaint fully, objectively and within the stated time frame.
• Notifies the complainant of the results of the investigation and any right of escalation.
• Informs the complainant of any action implemented to reduce the risk of re-occurrence.
• Maintains effective monitoring and improvement arrangements that are reported quarterly to the Quality Assurance Committee.

3.   Concerns

Enginuity recognise that beneficiaries, customers and third parties may wish to raise their concerns informally and therefore the aim is to resolve these as quickly as possible. This informal approach is appropriate when it can be achieved but if concerns cannot be satisfactorily resolved informally, then the formal Enginuity complaints procedure should be followed.  Taking informal concerns seriously at the earliest stage will reduce the likelihood of developing into formal complaints.

Concerns about our products and services should be raised with a member of Enginuity staff as soon as possible, so that the concerns can be quickly understood and resolved where possible.

If concerns raised, result in Enginuity identifying possible areas of improvement to be made to its processes and procedure these will be fed back to the relevant department for consideration.

4.   Definition of a Complaint

A complaint is any formal expression of dissatisfaction by an individual or an organisation, who feels that the informal approach has not satisfactorily resolved their concern or that the formal route is more appropriate.

An individual or organisation may make a complaint, following the Complaints Procedure if they feel Enginuity has:

• Failed to provide a service or an acceptable standard of service or made a mistake in the way the service was provided.
• Failed to act in a proper way.
• Provided an unfair service.

This policy relates to complaints received about Enginuity and its products and services and Enginuity products and services delivered by third parties.

Enginuity reserve the right to cease corresponding with a complainant where it is believed, in their reasonable opinion, the complaint may be vexatious. A complaint may be regarded as vexatious where the complainant:

• Persists in pursuing a complaint which has already been investigated and provides no new or material information.
• Seeks to prolong contact by continually changing the substance of a complaint or by continually raising further concerns or questions whilst the complaint is being addressed.
• Fails to clearly identify the substance of a complaint, or the precise issues which may need to be investigated despite reasonable efforts to assist them.
• Complaints considered by Enginuity to be not of a serious nature or unimportant to the development and delivery of Enginuity’s products and services.  Matters of this type will be considered by an Enginuity Head of Department.
• Makes excessive contact or seeks to impose unreasonable demands or expectations on resources, such as responses being provided more urgently than is reasonable or necessary.

Complainants will be contacted if any of the above occur and a request made to cease the behaviour. If the behaviour continues the complaint will be referred to the Enginuity Business Services Director who will make the decision on whether or not to cease correspondence.  If complainants remain dissatisfied with the initial investigation outcome a complaint may be escalated internally for final review in line with the Enginuity Complaints Procedure.            

5.   Monitoring

Concerns and Complaints are an important tool which, alongside any data provided by beneficiary, stakeholder surveys, user feedback and focus groups, will allow Enginuity to learn about the products and services it provides. They provide a useful source of information about how individuals see our products and services, how Enginuity are serving them and to support continuous improvement. To ensure Enginuity can learn from complaints the following data will be collected in line with the Privacy Policy:

• Name and contact details
• Date of complaint and response
• Nature of complaint
• Action(s) taken/recommendations made in response to the complaint lessons learnt

Complaint information will be considered on a quarterly basis by the Quality Assurance Committee. Wherever possible the data will be used to improve and develop products and services.

6. Data Privacy

To process a complaint Enginuity will hold personal data about the complainant, which the individual provides, and which other people give in response to the complaint. This data will be held securely and only used to address the complaint. The identity of the person making the complaint will only be known to those who need to consider the complaint and will not be revealed to other people or made public. However, it may not be possible to preserve confidentiality in some circumstances, for example, where relevant legislation is applied, or allegations are made which involve the conduct of third parties or relate to Enginuity staff.

Complainants have the right to object to the processing of their personal data based on legitimate interests.

Enginuity will destroy complaints files in a secure manner six years after the complaint has been closed.

7. Make a complaint 

To make a complaint please email complaints@enginuity.org

_{Last updated 21/09/2023}