Complaints
When we get it wrong.
We will get things wrong. The question that actually matters is what happens next, and whether complaining is worth your time. Here is the process, with the timescales we hold ourselves to.
Anyone can complain: donors, volunteers, partners, and above all the people we support — whose complaints are the easiest for a charity to ignore and the most important to hear.
01
Tell us
Email us with what happened. You do not need a formal tone or a particular format — just tell us what went wrong and what you would like done about it.
We acknowledge within 2 working days
02
We look into it
Someone not involved in what you are complaining about reviews it. If that is impossible in an organisation our size, we say so and bring in a director instead.
Substantive reply within 14 working days
03
Escalate to the board
If our answer does not satisfy you, ask for it to go to the board. A director who has not touched the matter reviews it from the start, not just our handling of it.
Board response within 30 days
04
Go over our heads
If you are still unhappy, you can complain about us to the regulator. We would rather you did that than stayed quiet, and we will tell you how — we are not going to pretend this step does not exist.
No time limit imposed by us
What we will not do
- Stop your donations, remove your support, or treat you differently because you complained.
- Ask you to sign anything that stops you talking about what happened.
- Route a complaint about a person back to that person to answer.
Complaints about safeguarding follow a different, faster route — see our safeguarding policy. Complaints about a donation are usually solved same-day under our donation policy.