Last updated August 2024
Our charity offers emotional and practical support to people representing themselves in Civil and Family court proceedings. This help is free of charge, and is provided mainly by volunteers (i). Our staff and volunteers also raise funds for the charity, and may meet the public as supporters and donors, through events, appeals and other activities.
Feedback and informal complaints
We welcome your feedback on any aspect of our services. When you visit one of our offices for help, we offer forms for comments on the service you have received, and we will also welcome your suggestions for other improvements.
If you have any concerns, please speak to a volunteer or staff member, either at the office where the problem arose, or on the phone (ii).
We try to resolve concerns locally at our services, but if we are unable to do so, you can make a formal complaint.
Making a formal complaint
If you have tried talking to someone, but your concern was not put right (ii) you can make a formal complaint by:
- Completing our online complaints form
- Posting a letter to: Support Through Court (complaints), The Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL.
If it is not possible for you to complain in writing, you can arrange to telephone us (iii) and a member of our staff will write down your concern. In either event, please do this as soon as possible – within one month of the incident at the most – so that we can investigate the issue properly.
Please include your name, address and preferred contact information, and say what you wish to complain about, with as much detail as you can give, and what you would like to happen as a result.
Handling the complaint
We will aim to acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and investigate what happened. If the complaint is about a volunteer or a member of staff, we will tell them as well, we might suggest a telephone conversation with you.
We will normally send a written response within 3 weeks of the date we received your complaint. If the investigator is unable to reply within 3 weeks, s/he will aim to contact you to explain why, and will agree another deadline with you.
If we don’t hear from you within a month after we have sent our response, we will consider the complaint to have been withdrawn or closed.
Appeal
If you believe that we have not handled your complaint properly, you can appeal to our Board of Trustees.
The appeal should clearly state the grounds for the appeal, including any new evidence or arguments that were not considered in the original complaint or any other specific reasons for your appeal. This will help us better understand your concerns and ensure that all aspects of your appeal are considered.
The appeal must be sent within 5 working days from the day the complaint outcome is sent. It should be in writing, clearly marked ‘Complaint-Appeal’ to: Board of Trustees, care of the Chief Executive:
by e-mail: CEO@supportthroughcourt.org
by post: CEO, Support Through Court, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
The Chair may ask other Trustees to look at the appeal, and you will receive a further response within one month after you asked for a review, or within a time period agreed with you.
The Trustees’ decision is final (iv).
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(i) We try to help everyone who comes to us. Occasionally, we may not be able to help, and we will usually explain why we might refuse or withdraw our services. We do, however, reserve the right to refuse our services without an explanation. We also reserve the right to select staff, volunteers and supporters to enable us to deliver our services in the best interests of the people we help.
(ii) If your complaint is about having our service withdrawn from you, you can immediately move to making a formal complaint
(iii) The names and contact details of Managers and Heads of Department can be found on our website: www.supportthroughcourt.org (See: ‘Who we are’ or ‘Our Locations’).
(iv) You may complain to the Charity Commission, but they normally only deal with: matters of governance; the way finances are handled; risk of serious harm to the people the charity helps; or criminal activity. (http://forms.charitycommission.gov.uk/raising-concerns/).