We are committed to delivering a high quality customer service that meets the needs of our customers and ensures fairness.
Our Customer Service Standards reflect our core values and are a set of commitments that shape how we interact with you. We use them to help us measure how well we are doing. They also explain what we need from you to help us deliver these commitments.
SPSO Values:
• Independent
• People centred
• Fair
• Learning and improving
Our commitment to you
We will
- Treat you with respect, dignity, and courtesy.
- Communicate with you clearly and provide an accessible service.
- Explain our role and what the law says we can and cannot do.
- Listen to you to make sure we understand your complaint or Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) review request, and what you want to happen as a result.
- Where possible, signpost you to a different organisation if we are unable to help.
- Give you the best estimate for how long things will take, and keep you updated.
- Give you a decision on your complaint or SWF review as soon as we can, taking account of the work we need to do.
- Apologise if we make mistakes, learn from them, and put things right as far as we can.
- Tell you how you can ask us to review our decision if you disagree with it.
- Check public bodies have done what we asked them to do as a result of your complaint or SWF Review.
What we need you to do
There are some things that you (or your representative) can do to help us to handle your complaint or SWF review effectively.
- Let us know if you have needs that we should be aware of so that we can take these into account when we communicate with you.
- Treat our staff with courtesy and respect. Our Respectful Engagement Policy sets out how we engage with our customers and protect staff from behaviour that may impact them.
- Understand that we cannot always give you the answer or outcome you are looking for – but we will always listen.
Making a complaint about our service
If something goes wrong or you are not satisfied with our service, please tell us. You have the right to complain when things go wrong.
You can make your complaint online, in person, by phone, by email or in writing. We have a two-stage service complaints process. We will always try to deal with your complaint quickly. If it is clear that the matter will need a detailed investigation, we will tell you and keep you updated on our progress.
Stage one: early resolution
We will always try to resolve your complaint quickly, within five working days if we can. In exceptional circumstances we may extend this by up to five working days. If you are unhappy with our response, you can ask us to consider your complaint at stage two.
Stage two: investigation
We will look at your complaint at this stage if you are dissatisfied with our response at stage one. We also look at some complaints immediately at this stage if it is clear that they are complex, need detailed investigation, or it is otherwise appropriate to do so. We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We will give you our decision as soon as possible. This will be after no more than 20 working days unless this is not possible. In such circumstances we will advise you and keep you updated on our progress.
The Independent Customer service Complaints Reviewer (ICSCR)
If, after receiving our final decision on your service complaint, you remain unhappy with our response or the way we have handled your complaint, you can ask the ICSCR to consider it. You must make your request within one month of receiving our decision letter. We will tell you how to do this when we send you our final response
Information sharing with the Independent Customer Service Complaints Reviewer
Our standard stage 3 customer service complaint process involves sharing both the public service complaint and customer service complaint case files with the Independent Customer Service Complaints Reviewer (ICSCR). The ICSCR will then determine which information is relevant to their review.
If you do not wish the ICSCR to receive either the public service complaint file, or both the public service complaint and customer service complaint files, please email [email protected] to inform the SPSO of your decision.
If you are content to share the public service complaint file but would like specific points to be redacted, please also email us with details of the information you wish to be withheld.
Unhappy with the outcome of your complaint or SWF review?
We measure the quality of how we deliver our service to you (our customer service) separately from the quality of our decisions on complaints and SWF reviews. If you are unhappy with the decision we have made on your public service complaint, INWO complaint or SWF review, you can ask us for a review of the decision. Follow the links below for more information on these processes: