Complaints Policy

Purpose

The Swimming Teachers’ Association is committed to providing an efficient and high standard of service to all.

We are continually working to achieve this high level of service by maintaining quality assurance standards which are compliant with regulatory requirements. We take every care to ensure we are delivering a high standard of service but are aware that there may be occasions that we do not meet both yours and our expectations, in this instance please raise your concerns with us immediately so we can address them, respond positively, and rectify any mistakes made.

Policy

The Swimming Teachers’ Association is committed to promoting fairness and equality of treatment to all. We welcome positive or negative feedback from any individual that has been directly affected by our products and services. We strive to think our customers have confidence that we will listen to their views and act upon them accordingly. All correspondence will be acknowledged by us within 7 working days, any dissatisfaction received will be treated as a complaint.

Our aim is to provide our customers with a clear, precise process to follow when they feel the need to make a complaint and what The Swimming Teachers’ Association aims to do to seek a resolution.

We aim to ensure that:

• The complaints procedure is an easy process to follow, being prompt and efficient
• All complaints are treated as a dissatisfaction with our level of service
• The correct resolution is to the complainant’s satisfaction (explanation, apology, action taken), being courteous, consultative, and responsive
• Complaints and feedback are reviewed in line with our quality assurance standards to help improve our service, whilst being open and informative relating to the outcome.

Everyone has the right to raise a complaint, so this policy will define the stages and procedures you would need to follow, guidance is as follows:

• The process you need to follow to raise a complaint
• The appropriate person who this should be directed to
• The timescales for the complaint to be investigated
• How and when you will be notified of the outcome.

The Swimming Teachers’ Association will not accept a complaint under this policy in relation to the following:

• If the complaint relates to a course or any assessment or course results please refer to our Safety Training Awards Complaints Policy and Safety Training Awards Enquiries and Appeals Procedure
• Any form of maladministration or malpractice, this will be dealt with under our Maladministration and Malpractice Policy.

Raising Concerns and Making Complaints

All individuals can access the information about our complaints procedures through our website or can request a copy by contacting us. We are committed to providing an equal opportunity for all, where possible, to communicate with us.

A complaint can be raised by an individual, a group or a third party who is acting on the behalf of someone else. If a third party is submitting a complaint on behalf of someone else they will need written permission from the complainant along with the written complaint attached, this should then be presented to The Swimming Teachers’ Association for acceptance.

Once The Swimming Teachers’ Association have received a complaint an acknowledgement will be sent within 7 working days. The complaint will be reviewed in line with our policies and procedures and an investigation will be conducted where necessary. To ensure a fair and thorough process is followed the duration of the investigation will depend on the nature and severity of the complaint we receive at this stage, or the complexity of the response required. We do aim to provide this as soon as the outcome is available or within a maximum of 28 days.

How to Make a Complaint

Stage 1

Informal Process

We understand that most individuals who are not satisfied with a service would like it addressed and dealt with as soon as possible, therefore an informal process would be far more appropriate.

An informal process will be more efficient, the appropriate manager will aim to resolve any complaints quickly by mediating between who is responsible for the dissatisfaction and the complainant. The complaint may be resolved immediately following this process so we encourage our customers to contact us directly for an informal discussion if they have a complaint that needs to be resolved to achieve the desirable outcome.

If a complaint cannot be resolved informally then the formal complaints procedure should be followed. We may require further information from the complainant to ensure we fully understand what the complaint entails, we will investigate accordingly to achieve the best outcome.

Formal Process

If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome from the informal process a complaint should be submitted in writing to:

It is strongly advised that complaints are sent via recorded post. Once we have received a formal complaint in writing we will send acknowledgement of receipt to the complainant within 7 working days and an investigation to resolve the dissatisfaction will commence.

The Swimming Teachers’ Association will identify an appropriate senior manager to review the complaint for further investigation and the complainant will be notified of the individual responsible for this. The member of management will conduct a further investigation in to the complaint, upon completion of the investigation they will communicate and notify the complainant and provide them with an explanation or resolution.

To ensure a fair and thorough process is followed the duration of the investigation will depend on the nature and severity of the complaint we receive at this stage, or the complexity of the response required. We do aim to provide this as soon as the outcome is available, however in some instances this may take longer to conclude the complaint with an outcome, therefore the complainant will be notified of revised timescales.

Stage 2: Appeal Process

If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome from the stage 1 complaints process they have 14 days to submit an appeal to The Swimming Teachers’ Association. The appeal must be in writing, including all relevant information for the grounds of the appeal.

If The Swimming Teachers’ Association accept the appeal the complainant shall receive acknowledgement within 7 working days that the complaint has reached the appeal stage.

The appeal committee, consisting of Trustees, will be notified and will meet within 14 working days to address the complaint.

The evidence below will be forwarded to the Appeal Committee:

• All information regarding the complaint
• Evidence from stage 1
• Any other relevant documentation/information.

The Appeal Committee will meet to discuss and take one of the following actions:

• Uphold the initial decision
• Uphold the appeal
• Request further information from the complainant
• Request one or all that are involved to attend an interview
• Take any other appropriate course of action where deemed necessary.

The complainant and all involved shall be notified of the decision, in writing, as soon as it is available or within a maximum of 28 days of the final decision.

Record Keeping

Information relating to complaints are kept on file for the following duration:

• Complaints which are closed: Information deleted immediately
• Complaints which are upheld: Information kept on file for five years.

Monitoring and Review

This policy and its procedures will be reviewed annually as part of our quality assurance requirements to ensure it is fit for purpose, reflects the type of appeals that we may receive and how the process is managed in accordance with our qualification regulators. Regular reviews will ensure that we are adhering to our quality policy statement.