Comments, Compliments and Complaints

Age NI aims to provide a quality service to all. We recognise that sometimes things can go wrong. At Age NI we listen to your views and are constantly trying to improve our service. Handling complaints effectively supports our commitment to continually assess and improve our work.

Complaints when taken positively can have beneficial effects on the quality of the services we provide. The effective handling of complaints is therefore a vital aspect of our ongoing quality customer care programme and will assist us in driving forward Age NI’s mission ‘Together we provide crucial support for older people and drive change locally, nationally and internationally.’

Sympathetic handling of complaints can lead to greater satisfaction and improved service. Generally speaking, people who are unhappy with an aspect of our work want their complaint taken seriously, investigated, receive feedback quickly and have the matter resolved in a courteous manner.

At the same time, we are aware that dealing with complaints can, at times, be stressful and difficult. We therefore believe that an easily accessible system for dealing with complaints, compliments and comments, supported by all staff, is essential.

This policy outlines Age NI’s aims in dealing with complaints and sets out what you can expect when making a complaint.

Definition of a complaint

Making a complaint is a means of letting Age NI know that you are not happy with something Age NI may have an impact on or be responsible for. A complaint may be about: action taken by Age NI, a lack of response, discourtesy, failure to consult, or about the standard of a service you have received. So, please let us know if:

• you think we have done something wrong
• we have not done something we said we would do
• you are not satisfied with a particular service or set of services we provide.

Data Protection Complaints

A data protection complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction relating to how Age NI collects, uses, stores, shares or deletes personal data, or how it responds to individual data protection rights.

This may include concerns about:

• How personal data has been handled
• Responses to data subject rights requests (If a complaint includes a rights request, it will be handled under Subject Access Request (SAR) procedure timelines)
• Accuracy, retention or security of personal data
• Sharing of personal data with third parties.

Data protection complaints are managed in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA).

Aim of the policy

When we receive a complaint, our aim is to:

• Deal fairly and promptly with all complaints
• Investigate thoroughly
• Keep you informed of progress and the outcome in writing.

Who can complain?

Anyone can complain. It does not matter whether the service you are complaining about is delivered directly by us, or by a partner organisation, or an associate, you can complain to us. However, if you work for Age NI, you should clearly spell out that you are not complaining in your capacity as an officer. (A separate procedure is already in place for dealing with internal grievances).

What can you complain about?

• Age NI’s failure to provide a satisfactory level of service
• The actions of a partner organisation
• Failure to provide information or give the correct information
• Failure to follow our agreed policies and procedures
• Behaviour of staff or contractors
• Discrimination and/or harassment by staff.

How do I complain?

You can complain to Age NI by one of the following methods:

• in person at one of our premises
• via email to complaints@ageni.org
• via Age NI Website at www.ageni.org
• call to Age NI Reception on 02890 245729
• In a letter addressed to:
  Complaints
  The Database & Administration Manager
  Age NI
  31 Ulsterville Avenue
  Belfast
  BT9 7AS

Anonymous Complaints

We understand that it might be difficult for you to complain. Please be assured that we treat all complaints in the strictest confidence, so no one making a complaint will be discriminated against or treated unfairly as a result.

If you do not provide us with a contact name or address, it will not be possible for us to get back to you with the outcome of the investigation.

If you find it difficult to complain yourself

You may want to ask someone to help you in making your complaint. This person is called an “advocate”. It could be a Councillor, MP, friend, relative, someone you trust or another voluntary agency. However, in this case you must supply written consent to the advocate.

Once you have appointed an advocate, we will be dealing directly with them until the investigation into your complaint is completed. We will then respond to both you and the advocate. It is your right to inform us if you wish to deal with us directly and no longer wish to complain to us via your advocate at any stage during the investigation.

How we aim to deal with your complaint

Serious Complaints

Any complaint that falls under the criteria, ‘Serious’ e.g. (complaints regarding abuse), will be dealt with under the Age NI’s Serious Complaints Procedure.

Day Centres, Domiciliary Care & Residential

Any complaint that falls under the criteria ‘Care Services’ will be dealt with separately under the guidelines of the Regulation Quality and Improvement Authority (RQIA).

Fundraising

Age NI is a member of the Fundraising Regulator, the charity sector’s independent regulator. We follow the Code of Fundraising Practice to make sure our fundraising is responsible and transparent.

If your concern is about fundraising and you are not happy with our response, you can contact the Fundraising Regulator for an independent review. You can find more information on their website here or call 0300 999 3407.

You must contact them within two months of receiving your response from us.

We want our complaints procedure to be:

A reliable process

We will deal with your complaint fairly and consistently. Where issues are identified, we will take appropriate steps to address them and put things right.

A learning process

We want to learn from all complaints made to us and use them as a positive method of monitoring performance and improving our services.

We will be monitoring all complaints received and will classify complaints under certain categories such as inadequate service, delay in providing a service, poor staff behaviours or poor data handling. By analysing complaints in this way, we aim to highlight specific areas of our service provision where improvement is needed.

A quality process

To ensure that the way we deal with your complaint is a quality process and following feedback from you, we have set ourselves the following objectives:

• to improve the overall quality of the services we provide
• to improve our relations with you or your spokesperson
• to encourage best practice by our staff
• to provide training for our staff.

A process that values diversity

We recognise and value all of the people who live, work and who have access to our services. Our goal is to break down barriers to complaining and to make sure everyone can use the complaints process.

Principle of the Complaints Policy

The Complaints Policy is based on the principle of a three-stage process.

Stage 1 - Informal

We will try to resolve any concern you have about any of our services or data handling quickly and informally, without you having to make a formal complaint. However, if you wish for it at any stage, we will deal with your concern as a formal complaint (Stage 2). This means that a senior manager will be responsible for resolving your complaint.

Stage 2 - Formal Complaint

Your complaint will be acknowledged within 5 working days of receipt. This acknowledgement will provide contact details of the officer dealing with your complaint and the time scale for replying to your complaint. If the officer is unable to reply within 14 working days, i.e. because the complaint is very complex, we will let you know the progress we have made in the investigation of your complaint and when you can expect to receive a final response.

We will keep you informed about:

• the progress of our investigation into your complaint
• the outcome (in writing)
• who to contact if you are not satisfied with our response.

Complaints made by email to our advertised email address complaints@ageni.org will be acknowledged within 5 working days. The complaint will then be investigated and responded to within 14 working days by email unless you request otherwise.

Additional Requirements for Data Protection Complaints

Where a complaint relates to personal data, Age NI will:

• acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days of receipt and take appropriate steps to investigate and respond without undue delay
• where a complaint involves a data subject rights request, this will be handled in line with statutory timeframes (normally one month)
• keep you informed of progress throughout the investigation, if appropriate
• provide an outcome as soon as reasonably possible, considering the nature and complexity of the complaint.

Please refer to the Data Protection Complaints Process here

In some cases, data protection complaints may take longer to resolve where detailed investigation, third-party involvement or legal considerations are required. In these circumstances, we will keep you informed of progress.

All data protection complaints will be reviewed to determine whether they indicate a personal data breach. Where a breach is identified, this will be managed in accordance with Age NI’s Data Breach Procedure, including reporting to the ICO within 72 hours, where required.

All data protection complaints will be recorded, monitored and reviewed to support compliance with data protection legislation and organisational accountability.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your data protection complaint, you have the right to raise your concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), www.ico.org.uk.

Stage 3 – Appeal

If you are unhappy with the response that you have been provided with under Stage 2 of the procedure, you may ask the Chief Executive to review how your complaint was handled.

The Chief Executive will refer your appeal to a senior member of staff, who has not already been involved, who will review your complaint on their behalf. Before you make contact, it would be helpful if you could be clear about what parts of your complaint you feel have not been dealt with satisfactorily and identify your expected outcome.

In very rare cases, the CEO may feel it necessary to refer the complaint to a complaints panel made up of appropriate Trustees of Age NI.

Should your complaint be referred to the complaints panel, the CEO will send you the formal decision within 15 working days.

Unreasonable Persistent Complaints (Vexatious Complaints)

Where it is considered your complaint to be deliberately repetitious or vexatious, we may, at any stage of the Complaints Procedure, review your complaint and give a decision without a formal investigation. You will be informed in writing of this.

Again, depending on the nature of your complaint, if your complaint is substantially the same complaint as one you have made within the previous six months, we may choose not to investigate. You will be informed in writing of this.

Misconduct by staff

Any complaint relating to the misconduct of staff will be investigated using Age NI’s Disciplinary Procedure. If this is the case, your complaint will be progressed and we will advise you that an investigation is being undertaken.

However, we are not able to share the outcome of the investigation with you in view of Age NI’s obligations to maintain confidentiality.

Help us to improve

In order to help us further improve our services, we will also record the following information:

• personal details as provided
• the subject of your complaint
• the action we took (with dates)
• name(s) of officer(s) who dealt with your complaint.
• logging of all data complaints which are handled under the accountability principle.

Training

All staff will receive a copy of the Age NI Complaints Policy and new staff will be referred to the policy as part of their induction with People & Development.

Monitoring

The Trustees of Age NI will monitor the complaints received by the organisation on a quarterly basis.

Data collected will include:

• total number of complaints
• types of complaint (Written/verbal)
• category of complaint (services provided, staff attitude, organisational policy)
• action taken as a result of issues raised
• complainant satisfaction with handling of the complaint.

All personal information you provide will be treated as confidential in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018, UK GDPR and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA).

Policy Review

This policy will be reviewed at least every two years, or sooner if legislative, regulatory, or organisational changes occur.

We will use the information provided above to contact you in relation to your feedback or complaint. All personal information you provide will be treated as confidential in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR requirements. For further details on how your data is used and stored, please see our privacy policy.