Feedback

Whether we’re good, bad or indifferent, we want you to tell us where we are going wrong as well as when we are doing a good job. Hull Culture & Leisure Ltd takes feedback seriously and is committed to learning from customer feedback in order to improve its services.

Hull Culture & Leisure Ltd is a wholly owned Hull City Council Company. We work closely with the Council and use the Hull City Council Customer Feedback System to process all our customer feedback including formal complaints and petitions.

You can submit your customer feedback to us in any of the following ways:

• Online, by completing and submitting the customer feedback form on our website
• By telephoning the Council’s Contact Centre on 01482 300 300
• By writing to: FREEPOST RSJC-KKBE-ABXZ, Customer Feedback Team, PO Box 15, HU1 2AB

Compliments

When we get a compliment we will acknowledge receipt and make sure it is passed to the right people.

Suggestions

We welcome your suggestions as to how we can improve the services we deliver to you.  If you complain about why we do things, not what we do, we will treat this as a suggestion and not a complaint.

If you want to make a complaint and remain anonymous, we will treat this as a suggestion. When you make a suggestion we will:

• Acknowledge receipt (if you have provided your contact details)
• Make sure it reaches the right people to consider it
• If applicable, we will provide you with a response regarding any action we may take as a result of your suggestion.

We may publish compliments and suggestions in some of our publicity. We will not publish your details if you ask us not to.

Complaints

We have adopted the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman definition of a complaint.  A complaint is defined as -

“an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual or group of individuals.”

 When dealing with your complaint we promise we will -

• acknowledge receipt
• clarify any aspects of the complaint that we are unclear about.
• keep you informed
• treat you fairly
• look into your case fully and properly

If this is the first time you are reporting an issue to us, we may decide to treat this as a request for service or as a concern. We may also treat your complaint as a concern, if you did not personally receive a service provided by Hull Culture & Leisure Ltd. It is at our discretion, how we choose to handle your feedback.

If we decide to treat your issue as a concern, it will be responded to within 10 working days. A Concern is a one stage process with no escalation option. If you are not satisfied with the response or how we have chosen to handle your issues you will be directed to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman

You should make us aware of your complaint within 12 months of the incident happening or within 12 months from when you first became aware that you had reason for complaint. If your complaint is received later than this, we may not be able to be fully investigate it. The time limit may be extended at the discretion of the complaints manager where there is a very good reason for the delay. Where late complaints cannot be accepted we will tell you and explain why. If possible we may make an alternative response to help regarding any outstanding issues.

We ask that you treat Hull Culture & Leisure Ltd and its employees with dignity and respect when submitting complaints and feedback. We reserve the right to cancel any complaint that contains excessive foul and abusive language.

Hull Culture & Leisure is committed to providing a fair and reasonable complaints service and to making it as accessible as possible. Any complainants who, through the nature or frequency of their contact with us, behave unreasonably and hinder the consideration of their own or other people’s cases, will be referred to the Customer Feedback Team Leader who will consider their access options. This will be done on a case by case basis.

Stages of a complaint

Stage 1

We will let you know we have received your complaint within 3 working days and aim to send a full response within 10 working days.

If we need more time or signed permission from the complainant if you are complaining on someone else’s behalf, we will tell you when you can expect our response.

When you have received our response, if you are happy or if we do not hear from you within 28 days we will close the complaint.

Stage 2

If you are not happy you can ask for your complaint to be escalated to stage 2, where it will be reviewed by a senior manager.  You do not have to give us any reasons to escalate your complaint, however if you are able to, it will help us to understand why you are still unhappy.

We will acknowledge receipt of your request within 3 working days and aim to send a full response within 20 working days.  If we need more time, we will write to you and tell you when you can expect our response.

When you have received your stage 2 response, you have completed the complaints process and we will close the complaint.

The Company’s complaints process is now complete.

Further escalation

If you are still dissatisfied after the Company’s Complaints procedure has finished

You can contact the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) to ask them to review your complaint -

The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman
P O Box 4771
Coventry
CV4 OEH

Tel: 03000 610 614         

Website - www.lgo.org.uk

On occasion there are complaints the LGSCO cannot or will not be able to investigate. In such circumstances, the LGSCO will explain clearly if this is the case and the reasons why this decision has been given.

The Ombudsman will not normally consider a complaint which has not completed the Hull Culture & Leisure complaints procedure.

You can approach the Ombudsman at any time during your complaint for help and advice.