Equipping People To Make Sense Of What They Are Told
COMPLAINT AGAINST PROVENTUS
Step 1
If a member/non-member wishes to make a complaint concerning Proventus, (as a charity)
in the first instance they may lodge their complaint in writing to ‘The Secretary’
who will refer the matter to the chair of trustees.
The chair will discuss the details privately with the plaintiff and, if a satisfactory
solution is achieved, no further action need be taken.
Step 2
If the problem is not resolved, the chair should examine the information available
in the case, at which point he/she will inform the other trustees of the situation.
The trustees will meet to discuss the complaint, make a decision and inform the plaintiff
through the chair of trustees. This decision will be final from Proventus’ point
of view.
Timescale
Once a complaint has been received by Proventus, the Charity will endeavour to reach
a decision within three weeks. If the investigation is of such complexity, and this
time limit is impracticable to reach a suitable decision, the plaintiff will be informed
about the extra time required.
The plaintiff will be informed within 48 hours of the final decision either by letter
or verbally depending upon the seriousness of the complaint.
If the plaintiff, or Proventus, cannot agree on a solution to the problem, either
party has the right to ask the Charity Commission to be the final arbiter in the
dispute.
If a complaint is received by Proventus against a member, or it is felt that he/she
has infringed the charity’s rules and/or protocol, the matter should, in the first
place, be dealt with promptly and privately by the chair of trustees or a nominated
member of the trustees. The subject of the complaint should be discussed with the
member and his/her views sought. If there is an agreed satisfactory outcome from
these discussions the interviewer should notify all the other trustees who may keep
a record of the incident. No further action needs to be taken.
Step 2
If there is no agreed satisfactory outcome, either the member or the interviewer
may request the trustees to examine the subject of the complaint and arrange further
discussions with the member. The chair will decide the representation of at least
two other trustee members in these secondary discussions. The decision, to be made
known as soon as possible to the member at some stage thereafter, will be final and
will also be reported at the next general committee meeting.
