At Missing People we are always trying to improve our Services. Please help by telling us what we’re getting right, or if we’ve got something wrong.
Our Feedback and Complaints Policy is that we take every opportunity to ask for feedback and we have a transparent, well-publicised, effective and timely process for complaints to be handled. Our Feedback and Complaints Procedure sets out the way in which we do this. We aim to respond to all complaints and concerns, and resolve them quickly, fairly and effectively.
We have a Code of Contact which sets out what you can expect from our staff and volunteers. If you feel that we have not met this standard, or if you want to raise a concern about someone who works for Missing People, please use the Feedback and Complaints Procedure to get in touch.
This procedure is for feedback and complaints about our Services.
You can share your experience of using our Services, whether your feedback is positive, neutral or negative. By sharing this as Feedback, you are not expecting a response from us. But we will thank you for your feedback and pass your comments on to the relevant team. We may also include your comments in reports about our work, removing any identifying details unless we have your express permission.
If you wish to raise a concern or express dissatisfaction with our Services, and for us to respond, you can do this by making a Complaint.
For information about our fundraising, please see our Fundraising Promise. If you have complained about our fundraising and are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Fundraising Regulator, Eagle House, 167 City Road, London, EC1V 1AW, 0300 999 3407
For information about our use of your personal data, please see Privacy of Service Users’ data. If you have contacted us about your personal data and you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office on their helpline 0303 123 1113.
Aimed at staff and former staff, Missing People’s Whistleblowing Policy sets out the process for raising concerns about possible wrongdoing at the charity.
Feedback and anonymous complaints
If you have general feedback or comments about our Services you can email services@missingpeople.org.uk or write to Services Team, Missing People, 284 Upper Richmond Road West, London SW14 7JE.
If you prefer to do this anonymously you can email 116000@missingpeople.org.uk with “Feedback” in the subject header.
You can also make a complaint anonymously, by emailing 116000@missingpeople.org.uk with “Complaint” in the subject header. Submitting your complaint anonymously will limit our ability to investigate your complaint and it will mean we cannot respond to you. However, we will still look into the complaint and use the information to improve in any way that we can.
Stage 1 – Informal complaints
If you have a concern that you wish to discuss, or you want to speak to someone about making a complaint, you can start by raising this with the person you are speaking to or by calling the Missing People helpline on 116 000.
If you are communicating with our Services by SMS, email or Live Chat you can raise your informal complaint that way. We will do our best to resolve the matter through the channel you are using but will offer to speak on the phone if that helps.
The person you speak to may be able to explain why the charity is acting in a particular way, or can help you to record your views and pass you to a Service Coordinator or Manager if you wish. If no one is available at the time that you contact us we will take your details and a Manager will attempt to contact you within one working day.
If this conversation does not resolve things for you, you have the option to submit a formal complaint.
Stage 2 – Formal complaints
If you are not satisfied with the response to your informal complaint, or you prefer to share your thoughts in writing, or you feel your complaint cannot be handled informally, you can make a formal complaint.
To help us deal with your complaint as effectively as possible you should include as much detail as possible including what the problem is, how it occurred, how it has affected you and what you consider we should now do to put the matter right or prevent it from happening again.
You should also include details of the time and date of your contact, which of our Services you were contacting and by which method, i.e. phone, email, SMS, Live Chat or face-to-face, and your name and a phone number or email address so that we may respond to you.
It is best to raise a complaint as soon as possible after the event it relates to; complaints must be raised within three months so that we can investigate promptly.
By email
Please email the Director of Services at complaints@missingpeople.org.uk with all the details listed above and write ‘Complaint’ in the subject box. This mailbox is monitored in the Director of Services’ absence. Please use the Complaints Form provided.
By post
Please write to Missing People, 284 Upper Richmond Road West, London SW14 7JE, and mark your letter ‘Complaint for the attention of the Director of Services’. Please use the Complaints Form if possible.
By completing our online Complaints Form
You can ask someone to help you make a complaint and to act on your behalf if you wish. Please let us know if you need help to make a complaint. If you prefer, you can phone the Missing People helpline and someone will complete the Complaints Form on your behalf.
What happens once we receive your complaint
Whichever way you contact us, we will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days of it being received. (Please note that complaints sent by post may take longer to be received).
The Director of Services will assign a Manager to investigate your complaint. The Manager may need to speak to you to get a better understanding of your concerns. If your complaint is about your assigned support worker we may agree with you an alternative support arrangement while the complaint is being investigated.
If individuals are involved then the Manager will speak to the member of staff or volunteer concerned and, if necessary, other members of staff. They may also check the charity’s records of the contact. The Manager will report their findings back to the Director of Services.
The process will be logged by the Chief Executive’s office to ensure deadlines are met and the process is followed, unless the complaint relates to the Chief Executive’s office when it will be logged with the Director of Finance.
Having spoken to all relevant parties, a Manager will respond to you within 20 working days using your preferred means of communication. If we need longer to investigate the complaint you will be notified within those 20 working days.
The response may include the following depending on the circumstances and investigation’s findings:
• An explanation of the circumstance of your complaint
• An explanation of our policy
• If appropriate, an apology
• An indication of changes made as a result of your complaint
All decisions about formal complaints will be discussed between the Director of Services and the Chief Executive to ensure transparency and help the organisation to work better.
What to do if you’re not happy with our response
Stage 3 – Appeal process
If you feel that the situation has not been satisfactorily dealt with, you have the right to have a Trustee review your complaint, to see how it was managed and to ensure that the process and decisions were fair. They will correspond with you directly and their decision will be communicated to you and to the Board of Trustees.
If you are worried about serious harm or abuse by the charity Missing People and you are not satisfied with our response you can raise your concern with:
• Charity Commission for England and Wales
• The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)
Details of complaints will be kept confidentially on file for twelve months.
Missing People will maintain a log of complaints to ensure that all learning is shared.
An annual and anonymous summary of all feedback and complaints are provided to the charity’s Board of Trustees to help the Board to improve our Services and ways that we work.
You have the right to request the information that Missing People holds about you. Please refer to the Privacy Policy on our website which explains how we handle your data and what to do if you have any concerns about this.
When you use our Feedback and Complaints Procedure, you are agreeing that we can use the personal information you share with us for purposes connected with your complaint.
If you choose to make a complaint anonymously and therefore your personal data is not provided, it will potentially limit the charity’s capacity to investigate complaint fully and the charity will not be able to advise you of the outcome of the investigation.
We will treat you with courtesy and respect.
We will listen to you and take your complaint seriously.
We will investigate your complaint as thoroughly and quickly as possible.
We will aim to keep you updated during the investigation.
We will be open to hearing your experience and learning from it.
In return, we ask you to be respectful towards us, to follow the behaviours expectations that are set out in our Code of Contact, and be patient while we work through the process.
There may be certain circumstances in which we are not able to respond to your complaint, such as:
• You use language that is threatening, abusive or otherwise offensive. This includes racist, sexist or other discriminatory behaviour.
• You appear to be unfairly targeting or harassing a staff member or volunteer.
• You submit multiple complaints, without allowing time for us to respond, or you are repeating a complaint that we have already addressed.
• Your complaint is about something that happened too long ago, which means we can’t access the information we would need to investigate the matter.
• Your complaint relates to a service that we don’t provide (in which case we would explain this to you).
• You have sent a complaint to us and numerous other organisations as part of a bulk mailing or email. In this instance we will decide whether it is necessary for us to reply or not.
• Your complaint relates to another organisation (in which case we would advise you to complain directly to that organisation).
We have launched a regular email so that you can be aware of new missing person appeals and share them far and wide! We are also calling on all Heroes to be the eyes and ears for Missing People on the ground. Your sighting of a missing person could make a difference in a crucial time.
