the leap complaints policy
At The Leap we take your concerns and complaints seriously and aim to resolve any issues promptly. We will ensure that your complaint is investigated fully, transparently and honestly in a timely manner. It is imperative to us that complainants receive a meaningful apology when appropriate and that learning from a complaint is identified and used to improve our practices
Courtesy and respect
You can expect to be treated with courtesy, respect and fairness at all times. We expect that you will also treat our staff dealing with your complaint with the same courtesy, respect and fairness. We will not tolerate threatening, abusive or unreasonable behaviour by any complainant. Such situations are rare, however, should they happen, we will cease communication with the complainant immediately.
How a complaint may be received
Complaints may be received by The Leap by email. All complaints will be logged and investigated.
What a complaint may be made about
A complaint can be made to The Leap about any matter reasonably connected with The Leap’s functions including in particular:
The standard of service you expect from us
Any member of staff
How our work is organised; if this has affected your ability to engage with us or receive support.
If your complaint is about your application for support, a commission or a competition you have submitted a proposal to us for, we ask you to note that all requests for support, commissions and competition applications are independently assessed by our community-based assessors and not by The Leap staff. This is part of our commitment to putting communities at the heart of our decision making.
Making reasonable adjustments
Upon receipt of a complaint if the complainant has additional communication needs, we will ask how we can meet your needs most appropriately and put in place suitable arrangements. This may include communicating in your (native) first language or corresponding in large print or asking a member of The Leap staff to help you write out your complaint.
The Complaints Process
In the first instance please email or call our Administration Manager Andrea Dean at Andrea@the-leap.org.uk who will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five working days.
Our Administration Manager will notify The Leap Director and an investigation will commence. This might include setting up a meeting if appropriate. We will aim to notify you about the outcome of our investigation within 15 working days.
Upon completion of the investigation the Director of The Leap will write to you with the outcome.
If you are not satisfied with the reply from The Leap Director or feel that not all elements of the initial complaint have not been addressed fully, then the next step would be to contact The Leap Consortia in writing at info@the-leap.org.uk
The Consortia will further investigate, keeping you informed and issue you with a timeline when you will receive their decision.
The decision of the Consortia will be final.
All decisions will be transparent, reasonable, based on the evidence available and based on a balance of probabilities. Where the final response cannot be provided within the timescales above, we will inform the complainant of the pending delay and the reason, providing an anticipated date for completion.
When we get things wrong, we will act to:
Accept responsibility and apologise
Explain what went wrong and why
Put things right by making any changes required
Learn lessons from mistakes and change policies and practices where proportionate and sensible do so
Recording complaint details
Complaint details, outcomes and actions taken are recorded by us and used for service and quality improvement. We record all complaints we receive and collate data from them to help us understand what types of problems are most prevalent, and how well we are doing to resolve them.
We value your feedback and expect to use it to help us to:
Get things right in the future if we have not done so already
Be more open and accountable
Act fairly and proportionately
Seek continuous improvement
Confidentiality
All complaints received will be treated confidentially. We will handle your information so that it is only processed and retained appropriately and legally, in line with GDPR legislation. If you would like to see our privacy policy, please email us at info@the-leap.org.uk