Complaints Policy – UK for UNHCR

About UK for UNHCR

UK for UNHCR is the United Nations Refugee Agency’s national charity for the United Kingdom. Our corporate, trust and foundation partnerships, as well as the generosity of individual supporters, help UNHCR protect people forced to flee conflict, violence and persecution.

Your feedback

UK for UNHCR welcomes feedback (good and bad) from our donors, stakeholders and staff as a key mechanism to learn and improve the work we do.

The complaints process is integral as it helps us to see where there is room for improvement and means we can develop and grow as an organisation. We will take all complaints seriously and deal with them as quickly, fairly and efficiently as we can irrespective of how they are made, who they are made by and what they are regarding.

What is a complaint?

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction or unhappiness about the standards or quality of service, actions or inaction, by UK for UNHCR or its staff, trustees or volunteers.

Complaints could include (but are not limited to) the following:

Concerns raised by a supporter, donor or member of the general public regarding particular fundraising approaches or campaign
Concerns raised by a supporter, donor or member of the general public regarding how we have processed/stored or used data belonging to themselves or another person
Any Safeguarding concerns (Complaints will be processed in accordance with the Safeguarding policies in place.)
Any concerns about the conduct or behaviour of staff, trustees or volunteers or those representing the organisation
The reporting of fraud, bribery or corruption (any such complaints will be processed according to the relevant policies in place)

A complaint is not:

A general query about the work the organisation does
A routine request for information regarding projects or campaigns
A request to amend details held, for example, updating contact information or cancelling a regular donation
A request to change marketing preferences
A request for financial or any other form of support

How to complain

You can submit a complaint initially using any of the following channels:

In writing, via email to our Supporter Care team at: [email protected]
In writing, via post to our Supporter Care Team. Please address the letter to: Supporter Experience Manager, United Kingdom for UNHCR, WeWork, 1 Mark Square, London EC2A 4EG
Verbally, via a phone call to: 020 3761 8094 (available Monday – Friday between 9am and 5pm)

Please provide your name, home address, email address, contact telephone number and details of the complaint as well as the best way to contact you.

The process

Once you have submitted a complaint to our Supporter Care team, we will do our utmost to resolve it as soon as we can. We will send an acknowledgement within 3 working days.

We aim to send an initial response to you within 10 working days.

We aim to have a final response within 20 working days.

If the complaint requires further investigation or we need to gather information, sometimes it can take longer to receive these responses. If this is the case, we will inform you of any delays and the reasons for this, we will keep you updated and provide an indication of when you can expect to receive a final response.

There may be instances when we chose not to acknowledge or respond to a complaint. These include:

When a complainant is being abusive, prejudiced or offensive in any way.
When a complainant is harassing or bullying a member of staff
When we cannot decipher the contents of a complaint, for example if it is incoherent or illegible.
When a complaint is regarding something that UK for UNHCR has no direct connection to.
When a complainant pursues the same complaint in an unreasonable manner after we have already provided a final response. The complainant will be given the escalation route and contact details, but we may choose not to reply again. If this is the case, we will inform the complainant of the decision that we have made.
When a complaint is sent to us and various other organisations as part of a mass mailing (postal or electronic.) Our team will decide whether it is necessary for us to respond or not.
We cannot respond to complaints made by anonymous parties. However, we will always investigate the contents of a complaint and use any findings to improve our processes/practices.

If you are not satisfied

If you are not satisfied with the final response provided by the Supporter Care team or with the service received, please contact the Director of Fundraising, you can write to them:

Via post, please address the letter to: Director of Fundraising, United Kingdom for UNHCR, WeWork, 1 Mark Square, London EC2A 4EG
Via email at: [email protected]

Please include the details of your original complaint, why you are not satisfied with the response up until now and what you would like us to do to resolve this.

Confidentiality

All complaints will be treated confidentially, and any information provided will be treated securely throughout the process.

We will only share information relating to the complaint with other staff if it is deemed strictly necessary to do so, and we will ensure that all information is stored securely and safely for as long as is required in adherence with UK law and all relevant regulations.

We will only share information containing personal data with a third party if we have a legal basis to do so as per General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). In some cases, we may ask for your informed consent before sharing your personal data with a third party.

For further guidance please refer to the Privacy Policy on our website.

External Support in resolving complaints

If you are unsatisfied with the response or resolution provided by UK for UNHCR or how we have dealt with your request, please note that you can contact the following external bodies for support:

Fundraising

For any complaints about fundraising, the Fundraising Regulator can help. They are the regulatory body for fundraising in the UK and as such, they can investigate any potential breaches of the standards outlined in the Fundraising Code. You must contact them within two months of receiving your response from us.

Fundraising Regulator
2nd Floor, CAN Mezzanine
49-51 East Road
London, N1 6AH

0300 999 3407

www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk

Advertising

If you have a complaint regarding advertising the Advertising Standards Authority can help. They are the regulatory body for advertising and as such, they can investigate advertising campaigns that you may feel are offensive, inaccurate, deceptive or if you are unhappy with the way that the charity has communicated with you.

Castle House
37-45 Paul Street
London
EC2A 4LS

020 7492 2222

www.asa.org.uk

Data Protection/Information Rights

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is an independent authority (based in the UK) that regulates legislation governing information rights including the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). If you have concerns about an organisation’s information rights practices, the ICO can assist.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113

www.ico.org.uk

Other Concerns

For all other serious concerns, please contact the Charity Commission (the regulatory body for charities in England and Wales.)

The Charity Commission
PO Box 1227
Liverpool
L69 3UG

0845 3000 218