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Complaints Policy

Last reviewed 17th March 2021 by N Smaller Chair

This policy tells you how to make a complaint within the Lincolnshire Quadrathlon Club, or more commonly known as Lincsquad.

This is the policy that we will follow if your complaint is about someone’s conduct or behaviour. This could be because you think that someone has behaved in a way that is unsafe, unprofessional, discriminatory, offensive or intimidating. It could be because someone has broken important rules or policies.

Values and principles

You have the right to complain; we take complaints seriously. You should not be harassed, bullied or put at a disadvantage because of making a complaint.

Equality: you should receive a proper response to your complaint, regardless of your age, gender, disability, race, religion, nationality, social status, sexual orientation or political persuasion.

Fairness: we believe that complaints should be dealt with fairly and openly. Unless it would put other people at risk, those affected by a complaint should have a chance to contribute and respond to any investigation.

Safety and welfare take priority: we will always give priority to concerns that affect safety and welfare. Issues affecting children will be treated very seriously.

Confidentiality: we treat complaints as confidentially as possible. Sometimes we have to discuss complaints with other organisations. If we are worried about a risk to a person or to the public, we might need to pass on our concerns to the right authorities. If necessary, we will get advice from other organisations such as the Police, Social Services or a sport’s governing body.

 How to make a complaint

If you have a complaint you should raise this with the Secretary of Lincsquad.

If your complaint needs to be looked into further, you will normally be asked to put your complaint in writing.

Who to contact to make a complaint

Complaints should be addressed to:

 What we will do to investigate

An initial response to your complaint will be made within fourteen days. If the matter is urgent, we will respond more quickly. We will investigate your complaint fairly. This means that we will discuss the complaint with all of the relevant people. We will try to gather any information that may be relevant to handling your complaint.

Sometimes we will ask to show copies of information from the investigation to other people to allow them to respond. This is because we believe in fairness and openness. We will not share information if we think that this will endanger someone’s safety or welfare.

How will I know what is happening?

You will be given the details of a person who will be your point of contact. That person will make sure that you understand the process, and will help to answer any questions or concerns that you have. You will be given an update on the progress of your complaint every two weeks. If there are delays in handling your complaint for any reason, we will keep you informed. If your complaint leads to formal disciplinary action against someone, we will usually inform you about the outcome. We will not tell you the outcome if that person is a child, or if we believe that telling you would create a risk to other people. In this situation, we will still try to tell you about how you are affected by the action that we have taken.

What are the possible outcomes or results of my complaint?

In many cases, we are able to resolve problems informally. This might include:

  • A change in arrangements for particular activities
  • An explanation or apology
  • An agreement to communicate or act differently in future
  • If an informal resolution is not suitable, then a small sub-committee of the Management Committee will look at the information about the case. We will try to make sure that this committee does not contain anyone directly involved with your complaint. They might decide to take the following action:
  • Formal disciplinary action under the rules of Lincsquad
  • Changes in formal contracts or arrangements put in place by Lincsquad
  • A decision to refer the case to another organisation such as a sport’s governing body, Police, or Social Services.
  • Closure of your complaint without action

 Questions or queries about this policy

If you have a general query about this complaints policy, you should speak to the:

Secretary of Lincsquad – Lincsquadsecretary@gmail.com

Club Welfare Officer – LincsquadWelfare@gmail.com