Complaints Policy Overview

If you are considering making a formal complaint, please contact the CCE office (office@cce.community) for a full copy of CCE’s Complaints Policy and Formal Complaints Form.  Please read this carefully before you submit any formal complaint, as the information below is only a brief summary.

Our Complaints Policy provides a way for handling formal complaints relating to the behaviour, ability and decisions of the church’s spiritual leaders, charity trustees, staff, and volunteers as well as the behaviour of church family members.  We will seek to both address matters that have gone wrong and protect the reputation of people from false accusations.

In managing complaints, we will follow certain key principles, in keeping with our values and understanding of the Scriptures.  We will treat complaints seriously, recognising God’s heart for the vulnerable and those with less power.  In doing so, we will seek to act fairly to all, basing decisions on evidence.  We will endeavour to offer pastoral care where appropriate.  Any formal complaint needs to be made using the CCE Complaints Form within 6 months of the issue arising, unless it is a serious, historic complaint.

 
The following process will be applied to formal complaints (please see the summary process diagram):

1. Triage:
This is where initial consideration is given to the complaint received and makes an assessment as to how serious it appears to be and whether it will be formally investigated (as ‘low-level’ complaints won’t be). We will aim to acknowledge your complaint within 7 days.

2. Investigation:
If deemed sufficiently serious, your complaint will be referred to an internal investigation team to take forward an investigation.  There will be certain circumstances where external input will be needed too.  This team will interview witnesses and will weigh up the evidence.  We will aim to complete an investigation in a timely way, depending on its complexity.  Less serious formal complaints, which are not upheld after investigation, will be dismissed at this point.

3. Decision-making (‘Adjudication’):
For complaints which proceed to this point, named members of CCE’s HR Group will meet with the investigation team lead and the subject(s) of the complaint to review the complaint.  The HR Group members will then decide, in private, whether to uphold or dismiss the complaint.  They will also determine the steps to be taken when a complaint is upheld – in the more serious cases, it could be decided to remove someone from a position of responsibility.  When a complaint is upheld, careful consideration will also be given to enabling repentance / forgiveness, change and restoration through appropriate dialogue; and support, where relevant, someone’s development when their ability is at the core of the matter.

4. Appeal: When a complaint is upheld, the subject of a complaint has the right of appeal in relation to any perceived procedural unfairness and where the adjudication decision is considered disproportionate.

Different people within CCE will be involved at different steps in the process – this is to help build in objectivity and fairness.  We will endeavour to minimise any conflicts of interest (such as close friendships) between those involved investigating / adjudicating and the person complaining or the subject(s) of the complaint.

CCE charity Trustees have responsibility for the Complaints policy.  A summary of any serious complaint will be provided to the Trustees, generally as soon as possible after the decision to investigate (at triage).  This will be done on a strictly confidential basis and, generally, the complainer(s) and subject(s) of the complaint will be anonymised.  Trustees may need to report details of certain complaints to OSCR (the Scottish charity regulator) or other external authorities, including the police if criminal activity (e.g. fraud) is suspected.