Comments, Compliments, and Complaints - let us know how we're doing.

London Youth makes every effort to provide a high standard of service and to treat all members, customers and participants equally and fairly. We continuously try to improve our services and we value any feedback that will help us to do this.

Compliments and Comments:

Whether you’re one of our member organisations, or you’ve been to one of our residential centres, taken part in one of our programmes or attended some of our training, we’d love to hear from you. We’re committed to continual improvement in everything we do, so we hope you will feel free to make your views known to us.

Note: We take safeguarding extremely seriously. If you have any concerns about the behaviour of one of our staff, volunteers, members or customers in any situation it is vital that you tell us about it immediately so that appropriate action can be taken. Should the complaint in any way relate to a safeguarding concern it should be reported immediately to our Designated Safeguarding Lead at safeguarding@londonyouth.org.

There are few ways you can do this: either speak to one of the staff members, email or write to us.

Complaints

London Youth aims to provide its members, customers, participants and donors with the best possible service. We positively welcome suggestions you may have for how we can improve our service.

Usually, a word with the person at the point of service delivery will suffice. However, we recognise that from time to time there may be occasions when users of our services feel that the quality or level of service provided fall short of what they could reasonably expect. We also want to know about these occasions so that we can make good the problem and plan to avoid its repetition.

Your continued goodwill is greatly valued by us and we would expect to resolve any day to day difficulties or complaints informally and as quickly as possible. Should you feel unhappy about any aspect of your engagement with London Youth, please talk to your normal London Youth contact person in the first instance, or ask to speak to their line manager, as they should be able to resolve the issue for you.

The more formal procedure outlined below is intended for use by members and other users of our services, where informal communication has not achieved the desired result.

This is what you should do:

The complaint should be made to the Director of Finance & Resources who will acknowledge, in writing within ten working days, the receipt of any complaint. If the complaint is about the Director of Finance & Resources the complaint should be addressed to the Chief Executive (marked ‘confidential’).

This is what London Youth will do:

The Director of Finance & Resources will review the complaint and respond directly or where necessary will identify the best person to investigate the circumstances leading to the complaint and will communicate the results of the investigation to the complainant within a reasonable time – normally within 20 working days of the complaint being received. If the complaint is found to be justified, the Director of Finance & Resources will agree any necessary further action with the complainant.

The complainant will have the right – if dissatisfied with the results of the enquiry – to put their case, in writing, to an appeal of the Chief Executive. If necessary an appeal panel will be established. If the appeal is found to be justified, the appeal panel will agree any necessary further action with the complainant. The decision of the appeal panel is final and no further appeal is possible – although details are provided below of external organisations where you can refer your complaint.

The Director of Finance & Resources will keep the Trustee Board informed of the number and nature of complaints, and the outcomes. They will report to the Board on this at least annually.

What you can do to help us deal effectively and quickly with your complaint: 

Contact us as soon as possible using the details below, giving clear details so we can endeavour to resolve the issue. Specify clearly what aspect of London Youth’s work you wish to make the complaint about.

Including the following details will help us to effectively and quickly investigate your complaint:

  • The specific area, service or resource to which the complaint applies.
  • Your name and contact details: this is essential as we will not investigate anonymous complaints and we need a way to report back to you on actions. We will keep a record of all feedback in line with our data protection policy. We will only share your information with the people concerned/investigating the complaint.
  • Outline the nature of your complaint as precisely as possible, this will help us to investigate further and hopefully to resolve the issue. Please include details such as the place and time the incident occurred, and the names of individuals involved, where known.
  • What you would like us to do about your complaint, if applicable
  • Please let us know if you have already reported the complaint, who to, and if any action was taken previously.

If you have a complaint, contact:

Feedback

Director of Finance & Resources

London Youth

47-49 Pitfield Street

London N1 6DA

feedback@londonyouth.org

What we promise to do to help resolve your complaint:

Your complaint will be dealt with in a professional manner. Your complaint will be assigned quickly to the most appropriate person to deal with the complaint, and we will investigate the matter fully and communicate regularly with you until the issue has been resolved.

We will do everything we can to put things right and will review our procedures where necessary to stop problems happening again.

What if our response does not satisfy you?

If your complaint relates to fundraising, and we are unable to resolve it to your satisfaction, you can refer it to the Fundraising Regulator, the independent regulator of charitable fundraising of which London Youth is a member: www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk

Our holiday Day Camps at Woodrow High House are regulated by Ofsted who may be contacted on 0300 123 4666 or www.ofsted.gov.uk

If the matter concerns our use or handling of data then concerns can be raised with the Information Commissioner: www.ico.org.uk

If your concerns relate to any of the following:

  • dishonest handling of funds
  • misapplication of charitable funds
  • actions that contravene the Charity’s trust deed or charity law
  • actions that threaten to bring the charity into disrepute

you have recourse to the Charity Commission: www.charitycommission.gov.uk

What to do if you have a complaint about a London Youth Member:

Complaints should be made directly to the member organisation in the first instance.

London Youth does not have direct responsibility for members as they are independent organisations. As a responsible charity we do, of course, remain in contact with all our members and we will pass on complaints that we receive. We will carry out our own investigations and take action on areas within our areas of responsibility, for example if the member holds a London Youth Quality Mark or is a grant recipient – but primary recourse is to the member organisation.