Complaints Procedure

1. Our commitment

Photo 51 CIC is committed to providing a high standard of service and to being held to the values we publish. We treat every complaint as a chance to put something right and to improve. Complaints are handled fairly, confidentially, and without any disadvantage to the person raising them.

2. Important: safeguarding concerns are not complaints

If your concern is about the safety or wellbeing of a child or young person, or is an allegation that a member of our team has behaved in a way that harms or risks harming a young person, it is a safeguarding matter, not a complaint, and it is dealt with under our Safeguarding Policy, not this procedure.

Safeguarding concerns are acted on immediately and do not wait for the timescales below. Contact our Designated Safeguarding Lead, Sheryll ‘Peaches’ Cadogan, or Deputy DSL Nathan Anderson, at safeguarding@photo51.org.uk. If a child is at immediate risk, contact the police on 999 or the relevant local authority children’s social care team without delay.

3. What this procedure covers

This procedure covers complaints about the quality of our services, the conduct of staff or volunteers (other than safeguarding allegations), our partnerships, or any way in which you feel we have fallen short of our values. It is open to participants, families, partners, funders, staff, volunteers and members of the public.

4. How to complain

You can raise a complaint by email to info@photo51.org.uk, marked for the attention of the partners. Please tell us what happened, when, who was involved if relevant, and what you would like us to do to put it right. If you need support to make a complaint, or would prefer to raise it another way, let us know and we will make reasonable adjustments.

Complaints about one of the three partners are handled by the other two, so that no one investigates a concern about themselves.

5. What happens next

Stage 1: informal resolution. Many concerns are resolved quickly and directly. Where appropriate, we will try to put things right straight away or through a conversation. If that resolves it to your satisfaction, no formal process is needed.

Stage 2: formal complaint. If informal resolution is not appropriate or has not worked, we will handle your complaint formally:

• We acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days
• We investigate fairly, gathering the relevant facts and speaking to those involved
• We provide a full written response within 20 working days
• If the matter is complex and we need longer, we tell you why and give you a clear date by which you will hear from us

6. If you are not satisfied

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can ask us to review it, explaining what you feel we have not addressed. Depending on the nature of your complaint, you may also be able to escalate it to:

• The funder or commissioner for the specific programme (for example, the relevant local authority youth service for a commissioned programme)
• The Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk) for complaints about how we have handled personal data
• The relevant statutory body where a complaint concerns a legal or regulatory matter

As a community interest company, our regulator is the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies, which can consider complaints about how the company is run in relation to its community purpose.

7. How we record and learn from complaints

We keep a confidential record of formal complaints, our response, and any action taken. We review complaints periodically to identify patterns and improve our practice, in line with our value of accountability and transparency. Records are held securely and in line with our Privacy Notice.