Complaints Procedure
Our aim is to provide a timely, appropriate and good quality service to children and their parents, carers, professionals and donors and anyone else impacted by SeeSaw’s work. If our service falls below this, we offer opportunities for service users to feedback to us on ways we can improve. There may be occasions where someone wants to make a formal complaint, and we have set out below the procedure we will follow. This complaints procedure is for people using our service, or in regard to the general operations of the charity. Any concerns or complaints about the safety of children and young people will be dealt with using our Safeguarding Procedures or our Whistleblowing policy.
- Complaints may be received verbally or in writing. Where possible complaints should be sent to info@seesaw.org.uk and marked for the attention of the Director.
- In the event of a verbal complaint being received, careful notes should be taken, and a request be made that the complaint be put in writing. If the complainant does not wish to do this then they should be advised that the notes will be passed to the Director, and an acknowledgement will be made within 3 working days.
- If the complaint is about the Director, then it will be passed to the Chair of Trustees.
- Complaints regarding our fundraising, our fundraisers or third-party fundraisers will be considered by the Director and the Head of Fundraising.
- If the complaint is about the Head of Fundraising the complaint will be considered by the Director and a member of the Trustee Fundraising subgroup.
- The names of the person or people investigating the complaint will be shared with the complainant.
- We aim to offer a full response to all complaints within 21 days.
- If a fuller investigation is required, then a meeting with the complainant will be offered to discuss the reason for any delay.
- If the complainant is not satisfied with the response, they will be informed that they can put in a written request for their complaint to be reviewed by SeeSaw’s Board of Trustees. A special meeting will be held for that purpose within 21 days of such a request.
- In the event of a verbal complaint being received, careful notes should be taken, and a request be made that the complaint be put in writing. If the complainant does not wish to do this, then they should be advised that the notes will be passed to the Director, and an acknowledgement will be made within 3 working days.
- Fundraising complaints can be escalated to the Fundraising Regulator by completing the form on the website or by contacting them in the following ways: emailing complaints@fundraisingregulator.org.uk calling 0300 999 3407 (Monday to Friday, 09.30 am – 4.30 pm) sending a letter to Fundraising Regulator, 50 Featherstone Street, London, EC1Y 8RT
- The complaint, whether verbal or written, and the response, will be kept by the Director for 12 months.
- The staff and relevant trustee subgroup will meet following satisfactory resolution of the complaint to discuss any lessons learned and how to avoid similar situations in the future.
- The result of the complaint may include a decision not to work with particular third-party fundraisers in the future, and any lessons learned should be applied to future work with all third-party fundraisers.
All members of staff and volunteers will have a copy of this policy.
See Whistleblowing policy, Grievance procedure, Safeguarding procedure, Data Protection Policy and Personal Data Breach Policy.
Information about accessing information we hold about you is available on our website privacy notices.
Volunteers concerned about any aspect of their role should follow the process outlined in the Volunteer Handbook.
Date reviewed: July 2025
Date agreed: 26-08-25
Date for next review: September 2027
