It will be necessary to establish a mechanism to be able to handle any complaint in a timely manner.
- A panel of three Members of Council plus a reserve should be appointed by council to investigate and respond to a complaint. One of the three should be designated as the Chairman. The ‘reserve’ will be required if:
- A complaint cites one of the three panel members.
- A panel member is unable to be involved due to holiday absence etc.
- A method for recording complaints should be set up, this could be paper or electronically based to be maintained by the Secretary of the Society. This should be used to record brief details of the complaint and the dates of receipt and of responses.
When complaint is received by the Secretary, details should be logged and forwarded to the members of the panel.
Should the Secretary be implicated in any by the complaint, it should be passed to the Chairman, Vice Chairman and so on to a non affected Council Member.
The panel should undertake an investigation. To do this they have the authority to request all relevant correspondence/paperwork, and to speak to any and all relevant members of the society.
A response, in writing, should be forwarded to the complainant by the Chairman of the panel within 28 days of the receipt of the complaint by the Secretary of the Society. In exceptional circumstances, where considerable research and additional time is required, the complainant must be advised of progress.
The written response should be sent by recorded delivery.
Full details of the complaint and the response will be forwarded to all members of the Council of Management.
The decision of the Panel will be final.
Approved by the Council of Management 13 September 2014 and reviewed on 23 June 2018
The Panel is made up by:
Myra Allen, Noel Kemp and Andrew Munn.