Next Steps always aims to provide a high quality, person centred, efficient and understanding service to all people supported, their families and the professionals involved in furthering people’s lives.
We hope that the positive difference the services we provide make to people’s lives can be seen and is evidenced throughout all aspects of the support we provide. It’s fantastic to receive a compliment about what we do, and we always appreciate receiving one.
- Compliments will always be celebrated, and credit given to those involved.
Inevitably, there may sometimes be cause for complaint. We understand that sometimes things go wrong and don’t turn out the way they were expected too.
- Complaints will always be dealt with promptly and when necessary, through the correct channels and outside bodies such as CQC, Adult Safeguarding, Local authorities, and the Police.
Next Steps are committed to the people supported and helping to provide them with the tools and freedom in life they require in order live as independently as possible, recognize dreams and fulfil their potential. A version of this policy has been produced in an Easy Read video format with narration so that information is made freely available for all.
Next Steps strives to develop, improve, change wrongs to rights, and celebrate the achievements of all. Substantial focus on this commitment is seen within our Staff induction process and training, and we continually work hard to instil these values amongst all our Staffing teams, from Support Worker to Management.
As a result, we hold our compliments and complaints policy and procedure close to our hearts and continually strive to implement it in a clear and transparent manner at all times.
We will always encourage anyone we support, any member of Staff, Family members, visitors to our Services and Professionals to always raise any compliment or complaint with our management team so that it can be addressed appropriately as quickly as possible.
COO1.1A – Compliments
Giving us a compliment
- Compliments can be made by completing the form on the Next Steps website, via telephone call, E-mail, letter or in person to any member of Next Steps Staff.
- Compliments received by a member of the management team will be passed on to the relevant Staff and teams within 24 hours of receipt.
- If you are a Next Steps client, you may decide to use the ‘Accessible Compliments Form’ (Appendix 1).
- Anonymous compliments can be made at any time and will be recorded and passed on in the same process.
Recording and Logging of Compliments
- When received, your compliment will be recorded and logged on and confirmation of receipt of your compliment will be communicated within five working days.
- Details of the specific nature of your compliment, name and contact details will be recorded on our database and will not be passed onto third parties.
- Next Steps does not engage in the buying or selling of the personal information of others and abides by all governance regarding GDPR and alike.
- Only senior Next Steps Management Staff have access to this database.
- On occasion Next Steps may use your compliment as part of promotional material or as evidence with other agencies of our commitment to providing a first-class support service. In this event, Next Steps will always seek your permission before publishing or passing on your compliment.
Review
- Next Steps Senior Management Team will review all compliments received on a regular basis and ensure that achievements are celebrated with our Staff teams.
COO1.1B – Complaints
Making a complaint
- Complaints can be made by completing the form on the Next Steps website, via telephone call, E-mail, letter or in person to any member of Next Steps Staff.
- It is the duty of all Next Steps Staff to inform management of any and all complaints received.
- If you are a person supported at Next Steps, you may decide to use the ‘Accessible Complaints Form’ (Appendix 2).
- For those who may require additional support to make a complaint, Next Steps will make every effort to help provide this. This could include additional support such as Advocacy or Interpreting services.
- Anonymous complaints can be made at any time and will be recorded and reviewed through the same process as all other complaints.
- Unfortunately, due to the circumstances involving an anonymous complaint, correspondence regarding our assessment of the situation and any actions that have been put into place in order to make improvements will not be communicated with you directly. Additionally, lodging an anonymous complaint also means that Next Steps will not be able to seek and further background information from you to help resolve your complaint during the review process.
Recording and Logging of Complaints
- When received, your complaint will be recorded and logged on and confirmation of receipt of your complaint will be communicated within five working days.
- Details of the specific nature of your complaint, name and contact details will be recorded on our database and will not be passed onto third parties unless there is express need to do so.
- Next Steps does not engage in the buying or selling of the personal information of others and abides by all governance regarding GDPR and alike.
- Only senior Next Steps Management Staff have access to this database.
- In the event that there is need to pass your complaint on to another organisation or agency, Next Steps will alert you to this and provide as much information as we can with regard to the status of your complaint and who will be handling it.
Responding to a complaint
- Next Steps always aim to respond in full to all complaints within 25 working days of receipt and will provide you with the contact details of the manager dealing with your complaint and a date that their response will be with you by.
- In some circumstances, a full response within 25 working days may not be manageable. If this is the case with your complaint, Next Steps will contact you to explain why and provide a date for when you can expect to have a response to your complaint. We will let you know if it is going to take longer than 25 working days to respond to you, explain why this is and give you the date by which you can expect to have a response.
- In our response to your complaint Next Steps will:
- Describe our findings.
- Acknowledge if any mistakes were made.
- Inform you of any changes or actions that have been and/or will be taken as a result of your complaint.
- Provide as much information as possible, considering confidentiality and compliance in line with our legal and statutory duties.
- Seek your opinion on whether you are satisfied with the response.
If you remain unsatisfied and require a secondary response
- If you remain unsatisfied with our response to your complaint, this will be recorded, and the process repeated as set out above.
- Next Steps will ensure that the investigation process is conducted by a different manager, and you will again be provided with confirmation that your complaint has been received, the relevant managers contact details and a date by which you can expect a full response to your complaint (usually 28 days from telling us you are unhappy with the response of your initial complaint).
- In the circumstance that you continue to remain unsatisfied regarding our second response to your complaint, a meeting with our service manager will be offered.
Conclusion
- When concluded, Next Steps will contact you to enquire about your view on how we responded to your complaint, your confidence in our Complaints procedure and for any feedback about how our response to complaints could be improved.
- Next Steps Quality Lead will administer and review this process, and act on its ‘Duty of Candour’, as required.
Review
- Next Steps Senior Management Team will review complaints, their outcomes and what has been learnt and all feedback regarding how complaints were handled on a regular basis.
If you remain unsatisfied with how your complaint has been handled by Next Steps
- If you remain unsatisfied with the fashion your complaint has been handled, you can lodge a further complaint with your Local Authority or the Local Authority that fund the person you represent.
https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/
https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/home.aspx
https://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/pages/default.aspx
- You may also wish to take your complaint to the Care Quality Commission:
CQC
Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4PA
Telephone: 03000 616161
Website: cqc.org.uk
- Next Steps is committed to work with full co-operation with these organisations.
Last Modified: Aug 2023
