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Complaints

Soothing Touch Academy Complaints Procedure

 

Soothing Touch Academy is committed to providing a quality service for its students and lecturers and working in an open and accountable way that builds the trust and respect of all our stakeholders.  One of the ways in which we can continue to improve our service is by listening and responding to the views of our students and lecturers, and in particular by responding positively to complaints, and by putting mistakes right.

  

Therefore we aim to ensure that:

 
  • making a complaint is as easy as possible
  • we treat a complaint as a clear expression of dissatisfaction with our service which calls for an immediate response
  • we deal with it promptly, politely and, when appropriate, confidentially
  • we respond in the right way - for example, with an explanation, or an apology where we have got things wrong, or information on any action taken etc
  • we learn from complaints and use them to improve our service
 
We have a 2 stage process and learners must follow stage 1 before going to stage 2.

Informal Complaint Procedure - Stage 1

 

We recognise that many concerns will be raised informally, and dealt with quickly.  Our aims are to:

 
  • resolve informal concerns quickly
  • keep matters low-key
  • enable mediation between the complainant and the individual to whom the complaint has been referred

An informal approach is appropriate when it can be achieved and all individuals must use this approach and discuss issues directly with the persons concernced in the first instance.   Resolutions must be put into writing during the informal meeting in order to monitor if concerns have been dealt with satisfactorily.  If concerns cannot be satisfactorily resolved informally within 20 working days of an informal meeting taking place, then the formal complaints procedure should be followed. 

 
 

Formal Complaints Procedure - Stage 2

Soothing Touch Academy defines a complaint as 'any expression of dissatisfaction with Soothing Touch Academy, a lecturer or with a student and that requires a formal response'.  The formal complaints procedure is intended to ensure that all complaints are handled fairly, consistently and wherever possible resolved to the complainant's satisfaction.

 
 

Soothing Touch Academy's responsibility will be to:

 
  • acknowledge the formal complaint in writing within 5 working days of receiving it
  • respond with an explanation within 15 working days
  • deal reasonably and sensitively with the complaint
  • take action where appropriate
 
 
A complainant's responsibility is to:
 
  • only bring a formal complaint after the above timeline for Stage 1 has expired
  • put a formal complaint in writing, to the Principal's attention normally within 4 weeks of the Stage 1 deadline passing
  • explain the problem as clearly and as fully as possible, including any action taken to date
  • allow the Principal a reasonable time to deal with the matter
  • recognise that some circumstances may be beyond the Principal's control
 

The Principal’s aim is to resolve all matters as quickly as possible.  However, inevitably some issues will be more complex and therefore may require longer to be fully investigated.  Consequently timescales given for handling and responding to complaints are indicative.  If a matter requires more detailed investigation, you will receive an interim response describing what is being done to deal with the matter, and when a full reply can be expected.

 
 

Confidentiality

Except in exceptional circumstances, every attempt will be made to ensure that both the complainant and the Principal maintain confidentiality.  However the circumstances giving rise to the complaint may be such that it may not be possible to maintain confidentiality (with each complaint will be judged on its own merit).  Should this be the case, the situation will be explained to the complainant.