Model Complaints Handling Procedure

If something goes wrong or you are dissatisfied with our services, please tell us.

What is a complaint?

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about our action or lack of action, or about the standard of service provided by us or on our behalf.

You can complain about things like:

• delays in responding to your enquiries and requests
• failure to provide a service
• our quality of service
• our policy
• treatment by or attitude of a member of staff
• our failure to follow proper procedure

Your complaint may involve more than one service or be about someone working on our behalf.

There are some things we can’t deal with through our complaints handling procedure.

These include: 

• a routine first-time request for a service e.g. notifying about a grant application
• services not delivered by or the responsibility of Scottish Forestry
• requests for compensation
• things that are covered by a separate right of appeal, for example:
  • rejection of a forestry grant or a felling permission
  • being unsuccessful in a tender process
  • a Freedom of Information Request

If other procedures or rights of appeal apply or can help you resolve your concerns, we will give information and advice to help you.

Anyone can make a complaint to us, including the representative of someone who is dissatisfied with our service.

We will always tell you who is dealing with your complaint. We may decided that your complaint is not valid or should be dealt with by another public body, in which case we will inform you of this.

We may also seek clarification if a complaint is not clear. Once a valid complaint is received it will follow our complaints procedure which has 2 options.

Stage one – frontline resolution

We aim to resolve complaints quickly and close to where we provided the service.

This could mean an on-the-spot apology and explanation if something has clearly gone wrong and immediate action to resolve the problem.

• we will give you our decision at Stage 1 in five working days or less, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
• if we can’t resolve your complaint at this stage, we will explain why and tell you what you can do next
• we might suggest that you take your complaint to Stage 2
• you may choose to do this immediately or sometime after you get our initial decision

Stage two – investigation

Stage 2 deals with three types of complaint: 

• not been resolved at Stage 1
• complex in nature and are immediately apparent that detailed investigation is required
• involve members of senior management

When using Stage 2 we will:

• acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 3 working days
• where appropriate, discuss your complaint with you to understand why you remain dissatisfied and what outcome you are looking for
• provide a full response within 20 working days

If the investigation is particularly complex and we need longer than 20 working days to resolve the problem we will agree a revised time limit and keep you updated on progress.

If your complaint involves generating significant new or complex data/information, and/or incurs significant resources to answer we will consider how best to respond and take advice on the most appropriate steps to provide an outcome, whilst not creating unreasonable demands on the agency.

If, having gone through our complaints procedure, you are still dissatisfied you can appeal to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

The SPSO cannot normally look at:

• a complaint that has not completed our complaints procedure
  • you must have been informed of the outcome of your complaint, at stage 2, before raising it with the SPSO
• events that happened, or that you became aware of, more than a year ago
• a matter that has been or is being considered in court

Normally, you must make your complaint within 6 months of the event you want to complain about.

If you find out that you have a reason to complain after 6 months of the event, you should raise this with us:

• as soon as possible
• within 12 months of the event you want to complaint about

In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to accept a complaint after the time limit.

If you feel that the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please tell us why.

• we understand that you may be unable, or reluctant, to make a complaint yourself
• we accept complaints from the representative of a person who is dissatisfied with our service
• we can take complaints from a friend, relative, or an advocate, if you have given them your consent to complain for you

We recognise there are occasions where some outside assistance is required to bring about resolution.

For such occasions we may offer to use the Scottish Mediation Network to help us reach a pragmatic solution.

Customers’ reasons for complaining may contribute to the way they present their complaint.

Regardless of this, we will treat all complaints seriously and properly assess them.

However, we also recognise that the actions of customers who are angry, demanding or persistent may result in unreasonable demands on time and resources or unacceptable behaviour towards staff.

Scottish Forestry will, therefore, apply our policies and procedures to protect staff from unacceptable behaviour.

Scottish Forestry follows, where appropriate, the Scottish Government’s Unacceptable Behaviours Policy.

Unacceptable Actions Policy (Scottish Government website)