Make a complaint about us

Our Standards of Service Complaints Procedure

A standards of service complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction from our service users about the standard of service we provide.
This may include:

• Failure to provide a service, or the provision of an inadequate standard of service;
• Unreasonable delays in the provision of our service;
• How we treated, communicated or interacted with a service user;
• Our failure to correctly follow our internal processes; or,
• Our failure to follow the appropriate legal or administrative process.

What can’t I complain about using this procedure?

If you are unhappy about our decision not to investigate your original complaint, or about the outcome of our investigation into your original complaint, this procedure would not be appropriate.

This procedure should also not be used to ask for a review of our response to your Freedom of Information or Subject Access Request.

Please contact us on 0800 343424 to find out what you are required to do in these circumstances.

Who can complain using this procedure?

Anyone who has used our service can submit a standards of service complaint. This may include:

• Complainants
• Their representatives (MLAs, their family/friends etc)
• Members of staff from a public body
• Visitors to the office (for example, contractors) or,
• Professionals who interact with NIPSO as part of their role.

How do I complain?

The easiest way is to send in your complaint via the online form below.

You can also:

• Call us on 0800 343424, telling us you want to make a Standard of Service complaint.
• Write to us at NIPSO, 33 Wellington Place, BELFAST, BT1 6HN
• Email us at servicestandardscomplaints@nipso.org.uk

Please let us know at this stage if you prefer us to communicate with you via a certain method or have any other needs we should be aware of.

You should submit your concerns to us as quickly as possible, and no later than 1 month of the event you want to complain about.

How will you deal with my complaint?

At Stage 1, we will:

• Acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days.
• Assign your complaint to an Investigating Manager. The Investigating Manager may arrange a telephone call with you to listen to your concerns.  If your complaint cannot be resolved at this stage, we will carry out an investigation.
• The Investigating Manager will issue the Stage 1 response within 20 working days. If we cannot meet this timescale we will tell you why and give you a new timescale.

If you remain unhappy after you receive our response, you can proceed to Stage 2.

The Investigating Manager will tell you how to raise a Stage 2 complaint within their Stage 1 written response.  The Stage 2 investigation is carried out by an Independent Reviewer.

At Stage 2, the Independent Reviewer will contact you to advise you of their timeframe for the investigation. They will conduct their investigation independently.  

At the end of their investigation they will provide a written response directly to you and send a copy to us.

The Independent Reviewer’s decision on the complaint is final.