Member complaints

This is the complaints procedure for members to raise individual concerns and complaints under Rule 19G of the Rule Book.

Although Community aims to provide the highest levels of service, there may from time to time be occasion where you have reason to raise concerns about the levels of service you may have received.

The basics

This complaint procedure is for complaints in relation to any service or benefit provided by or behalf of the union only under Rule 19G of the rule book. If the complaint relates to a matter falling under any other provision of the rule book, this procedure will not apply.

If you find that you need to raise concerns about the standard of service, or complain about any service or benefit, then please follow the below steps to bring the matter to our attention. A concern should fall under one of the following grounds:

  • Membership services and benefits
  • Workplace Representation and Support
  • Legal Assistance Support and representation
  • Data Protection
  • Discrimination and Equality

Anything not covered above, including all collective matters, will need to be pursued via rule 19 of the rule book.

The process

Where your concern relates to the support or service provided by a Union Officer, in the first instance you must raise your concern with the Union Officer whom your complaint relates to. The Union Officer must respond to you in writing by email or letter. If the written response from the Union Officer does not resolve your concern then you will need to follow the procedure below.

In order to raise a concern you will need to contact the complaints administrator in writing and, where relevant, provide a copy of the outcome you received from the Union Officer. The complaints administrator will then allocate your complaint to the nominated person. If you do not provide the initial outcome from the Union Officer your complaint will not be progressed.

Please email complaints@community-tu.org or contact us via our website. You can also write to us addressed for the attention of: Complaints Administrator, Community, 3rd Floor, 67/68 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9JD.

All complaints must be sent to the complaints administrator and will be dealt within a reasonable period of time and this shall be dependant on the nature of the concerns and the complexity of the matter. The nominated persons who may be sent your complaint are listed below, and the nominated person shall respond to you.

Membership Services and Benefits

Membership fees and benefits are defined on our website. There are a number of benefits and services we offer to you as a member. If you believe you have not received the correct service or benefit or wish to raise a concern on how these were administered, this will be dealt with by: David Fiddler, Head of Membership Services.

Workplace Representation and Support

If you are not happy with the level of support you have received in the workplace or are not happy with the quality of service, this will be dealt with by your Regional or National Secretary covering one the following regions:

  • Scotland and Northern Ireland
  • North of England
  • Wales
  • Midlands
  • London and South
  • South West

If you have any concerns with any support received from a Regional Secretary or National Secretary your complaint will be dealt with by the Director of Operations or the Assistant Director of Operations.

Legal Assistance, Support and Representation

If you are not satisfied with the level of assistance, support or representation you have received in relation to any external solicitor, please contact the solicitors firm directly and copy in the Head of Legal. If you are unhappy with any legal assistance, support or representation provided by the legal department, this will be dealt with by the Head of Legal.

Data Protection

If you have concerns, which may be in relation to any communication, article, publication, or other matter involving the processing of any of your personal data, this will be dealt with by the Head of IT.

Discrimination and Equalities

Community Trade Union tries to ensure that we do not treat anyone less favourably for any unlawful reason. If you believe you have been subject to harassment or otherwise treated in an unfair or discriminatory manner because of a protected characteristic – for example:

  • Age
  • Race
  • Sex
  • Gender
  • Religion or Belief
  • Disability
  • Marital Status
  • Pregnancy/Maternity

Please let us know and this will be dealt with by the Head of Equalities.

Stages of complaints procedure

Stage one

You must contact us in writing for us to be able to progress the matter. If the concern is not in a written form, we shall not be able to deal with it until such time as you provide a written complaint to the complaints administrator and, where relevant, provide the response from the Union Officer dealing with the initial concern. Please email complaints@community-tu.org or contact us via our website. You can also write to us: Complaints Administrator, Community, 3rd Floor, 67/68 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9JD.

This will then be referred to the nominated person for action.

The nominated person will then deal with your concern and will ask the individual complained against to provide a report to your written complaint before deciding how to resolve the issues you have raised.

After having considered all the relevant and available facts, the nominated person will then respond to you.

This will be done within a reasonable period of time, which will be determined by the nature of the complaint and its complexity.

Stage two

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of stage one, you can appeal the outcome.

This will again need to be in writing within seven days of the receipt of the outcome at stage one. You will need to send the appeal in writing or by email to the person who determined your complaint in the first instance (the nominated person).

You will need to provide reasons why you disagree with the stage one outcome given by the person dealing with your complaint in detail.

The Appeal shall then be dealt with by someone who is senior to the person who determined the complaint at stage one and could be a National Secretary, Assistant Operations Director, Director of Operations, or the Assistant General Secretary.

A response should be given within a reasonable period which will again be dependant on the complexity and nature of your original complaint and the points you raise.

The response will be in writing and will only consider the points you have raised. This will be a review of the complaint outcome and not a complete re-hearing.

Once you have your appeal outcome, this will be the end of the process and no further appeal will be possible unless you can show in writing any exceptional circumstances or manifest inaccuracies in the outcome at stage two.

Stage three

If you are not satisfied with the outcome at stage two and can evidence exceptional circumstances or a manifest error in the previous decision, you should email the complaints administrator who will pass this matter on to either the Director of Operations, Assistant General Secretary or the General Secretary.

This will be possible only in exceptional matters and will be entirely at the discretion of the General Secretary and MUST be done within five days of the decision at stage two.

There shall be no further appeal from a stage three decision, which shall be final and conclusive of any complaint raised.

Accessibility If you require assistance to access or engage with the complaints procedure please contact either the nominated person or the complaints administrator and necessary provisions will be made.

Click below to download a copy of our member complaints procedure.

Download member complaints procedure

       
           

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