Making a complaint about the Standards Board
The Standards Board for England works hard to provide good quality services, but things can go wrong. If they do, we need to know so we can put them right and learn from them.
This explains how you can make a complaint if you are not satisfied with the service we have provided.
Our service complaints procedure covers complaints about:
- the standard of service provided by the Standards Board for England
- the behaviour of the Standards Board for England members, ethical standards officers and staff
- any action or lack of action by the Standards Board for England or staff affecting an individual or group
It does not cover:
- dissatisfaction with a Standards Board for England policy or decision
- decisions or investigations carried out by an ethical standards officer following referral by the Standards Board for England
- the decision whether to refer an allegation to be investigated
How to make a complaint
Our customer complaints procedure is open to anyone who has received or has asked for any of our services.
You can make a formal complaint by writing to the service complaints administrator for the department your complaint relates to at:
[List relevant department name]
Service Complaints Administrator
The Standards Board for England
Fourth Floor
Griffin House
40 Lever Street
Manchester
M1 1BB
or by email at service.complaints@standardsboard.gov.uk
How we will handle your complaint
Any information you give us will be treated in the strictest confidence and in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. Any information relating to a third party will also be treated in confidence and in accordance with the Act. The information provided will only be used for the purposes of dealing with complaints and for monitoring.
Please let us know if you need an interpreter to make your complaint or if you require assistance of any other kind. Please give us at least seven working days' notice of such requests.
Once your formal complaint has been received, the service complaints administrator will:
- let you know, within three working days, that we have received your complaint
- tell you who will look into your complaint – this will normally be the manager of the department concerned
- tell you when you will receive a full reply to your complaint.
You will normally receive a reply to your complaint within ten working days, telling you:
- whether we uphold your complaint
- what we plan to do about the issues raised in your complaint
- if we do not agree with your complaint, why not
- how you can appeal if you are unhappy with our decision
If your complaint is particularly complex, this may take longer. We will keep you informed of the reason for any delay and when you can expect a full reply.
How you can appeal if you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint
If you are unhappy with the response you receive to your service complaint you can ask to have it looked into by the chief executive. The letter you receive in response to your service complaint will tell you how to do this. You will normally receive a reply from the chief executive within ten working days.
If you are not happy with the chief executive's decision, you can ask the Parliamentary Ombudsman to look into the matter. The chief executive's letter will tell you how to do this. You should bear in mind that the Ombudsman will normally expect you to have gone through our complaints procedure first and you would need to refer your complaint to your MP first, who would then decide whether to refer the matter to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
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