Complaint Policy

Adopted: January 2023 Latest Review Date: January 2024

1. Our aim

Coventry Tornadoes Basketball Club (the Club) is committed to providing a quality service to its members and working in an open and accountable way that builds trust and respect. One of the ways in which we can continue to improve our service is by listening and responding to the views of our members and stakeholders, and by responding positively to complaints to action resolution. 

Therefore we aim to ensure that:

• making a complaint is as easy as possible.
• we welcome feedback and suggestions.
• we treat a complaint as a clear expression of dissatisfaction with our service which calls for a timely response.
• we deal with it promptly, politely and as confidentially as possible.
• we respond in the right way – for example, with an explanation, or an apology where we have got things wrong, or information on any action taken etc.
• we learn from complaints, use them to improve our service, and review annually our complaints policy and procedures

We recognise that many concerns will be raised informally, and dealt with quickly. 

Our aims are to:

• resolve informal concerns quickly
• keep matters low-key
• enable mediation between the complainant and the individual to whom the complaint has been referred

This policy ensures that we provide guidelines for dealing with complaints from our members about our services, facilities, Club staff and volunteers.

2. Definitions 

A complaint is defined as any expression of dissatisfaction; however, it is expressed. This would include complaints expressed face to face, via a phone call, in writing, via email or any other method. All Club staff should have sufficient knowledge to be able to identify an “expression of dissatisfaction” even when the word “complain”, or “complaint” is not used. 

3. Complaints

The formal complaints procedure is intended to ensure that all complaints are handled fairly, consistently, and wherever possible resolved to the complainant’s satisfaction.

4. Responsibilities

 The Club responsibility will be to:

• acknowledge the formal complaint in writing;
• respond within a stated period of time;
• deal reasonably and sensitively with the complaint; and
• take action where appropriate.

A complainant’s responsibility is to:

• bring their complaint, in writing, to the Club’s attention normally within 7-days of the issue arising;
• raise concerns promptly and directly with a member of Club staff;
• explain the problem as clearly and as fully as possible, including any action taken to date;
• allow the Club a reasonable time to deal with the matter, and
• recognise that some circumstances may be beyond the Club’s control.

5. Confidentiality: 

Except in exceptional circumstances, every attempt will be made to ensure that both the complainant and the Club maintain confidentiality. However, the circumstances giving rise to the complaint may be such that it may not be possible to maintain confidentiality (with each complaint judged on its own facts). Should this be the case, the situation will be explained to the complainant.

6. Complaints Procedure:

Written records must be made by the Club at each stage of the procedure. See Appendix B for an illustration of the procedure.

Stage 1 – InformalComplaint

In the first instance, Club staff member(s) to which a matter is raised, must establish the seriousness of the complaint. An informal approach is appropriate when it can be achieved. But if concerns cannot be satisfactorily resolved informally, then the formal complaints procedure should be followed. The Club staff member dealing with the informal complaint to complete a brief report by email to the Governance & Compliance Officer (GCO).

Stage 2 – Formal Complaint

If the complaint cannot be resolved informally, the member should be advised that a formal complaint may be made, and the following procedure should be explained to them. 

A formal complaint can be made either verbally or in writing. If in writing the attached form or online form should be used (see Appendix A). If verbally, a statement should be taken by a member of the Committee, staff member or a supervisor. 

1. In all cases, the complaint and all associated paperwork must be passed on to the GCO (tornadoesgov@gmail.com). In the event of a complaint about the GCO, the complaint should be passed to a member of the Club management committee (Committee). Whomever the complaint is passed to will become the responsible person, unless otherwise notified.
2. A formal complaint will be acknowledged within one week of receipt by the responsible person.
3. The responsible person will investigate the complaint. Any conclusions reached should be discussed with the club staff member involved and their Line Manager.
4. The person making the complaint will receive a response based on the investigation within four weeks of the complaint being received. If this is not possible then a letter must be sent explaining why and any appropriate action from this response will be taken after this date.

Stage 3 – Appeal

1. If the complainant is not satisfied with the above decision, they have the right to appeal the decision to the Committee, who will review the complaint and this may include obtaining external advice. The Committee will acknowledge receipt of the appeal within 3-days of receipt.
2. The Committee will examine the complaint and may wish to carry out further interviews, examine files / notes. They will respond to the complainant within four weeks in writing. Their decision will be final.
3. The Committee reserves the right to notify and pass over to their National Governing Body, Basketball England, any complaint received that is unable to be resolved at Club level.

7. Records of a complaint

Records of all complaints submitted to the Club will be held by the Governance & Compliance Officer as follows:

1. Informal complaints resolved at Stage 1 of the procedure – written report by Club staff member will be held for a period of 1-year.
2. Formal complaints – all records will be held for a period of 3-years.

8. Withdrawal of a complaint

A complainant has the right to withdraw their complaint at any time and this should be communicated as soon as possible to the Governance & Compliance Officer in writing to tornadoesgov@gmail.com. The complainant is under no obligation to provide a reason for withdrawal of the complaint.

Approved: Coventry Tornadoes Management Committee

Date:

Approved: Paul Adams, Managing Director, Tornadoes CIC

Date: