Who can make a complaint?

Anyone who receives, requests or is affected by services or activities delivered by Edinburgh Leisure can make a complaint.

What is a complaint?

We define a complaint as ‘An expression of dissatisfaction about the standard of service provided by or on
behalf of Edinburgh Leisure’.

A complaint may relate to:

• Dissatisfaction on a programming, cleanliness or maintenance issue
• Inadequate quality or standard of service
• Dissatisfaction with one of our policies
• Conduct or behaviour of a member of staff
• We have failed to do something that you expected.
• We have not treated you with courtesy.

What we can’t accept complaints about?

There are some things we can’t deal with through our complaints handling procedure, these include

• A routine request for information
• A request for compensation
• Any complaint regarding something you have already taken legal action for
• Any complaint where you disagree with the decision where there is a statutory procedure for
  challenge eg: Freedom of Information and subject access requests
• Any request for information under the Data Protection or Freedom of information (Scotland) Act
• A grievance by a staff member or anything relating to employment or staff recruitment
• An internal concern raised by a staff member eg: whistleblowing
• A concern about a child or adults’ safety

How long do I have to make a complaint?

Normally, you must make your complaint within six months of:

• the event you want to complain about; or
• finding out that you have a reason to complain. In exceptional circumstances, we may be able to accept acomplaint after the time limit. If you feel that the time limit should not apply to your complaint, please tell us why.

The Complaints Handling Procedure

Edinburgh Leisure’s complaints handling procedure is a two-stage process. We will always aim to deal with your complaint quickly and directly and would ask that you make contact through our stage 1 process in the first instance.

Our complaints process provides two opportunities to resolve complaints internally: Stage 1: Frontline resolution and Stage 2: Investigation

How do I make a complaint?

There are several ways that you can make a complaint at stage 1 (Frontline resolution):

Timescales

Stage 1 allows up to five working days or less to reply to your complaint, unless there are exceptional circumstances, in such circumstances we will make contact to let you know the expected timescale to respond.

Stage 2 Complaints

Stage 2 deals with the following type of complaint:

• Those that have not been resolved to a satisfactory level at stage 1, and further escalation is required.

Stage 2 complaints should be made in writing and include information relating to the following:

• The reason that you are dissatisfied with the outcome, and what solution you are seeking.
• Details of the initial complaint raised
• The outcome of your stage 1 complaint including who you have liaised with and when (copies of this correspondence should be included)
• The reason that you are dissatisfied with the outcome, and what solution you are seeking.

How will we manage your complaint?

We will:

• provide you with a full written response to your complaint as soon as possible and within 20 days of the stage 2 escalation.
• treat your complaint fairly and ensure we thoroughly investigate it.
• always issue a written response to complaints that have been received in writing.
• acknowledge your complaint within three working days and if a full response cannot be given within that timescale, we will inform you when we are able to respond.
• Discuss the complaint with you if deemed necessary to understand why you remain dissatisfied and what outcome you are looking for.
• Ensure that any stage 2 complaints are handled by a neutral person to stage 1

All stage 2 complaints must be made within 2 months of receipt of the outcome to the stage 1 complaint

What happens if you are not satisfied with our response after stage 2?

After we have given you our final decision, if you remain dissatisfied you can seek external resolution
through the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

Independent External Review
The SPSO are an independent organisation that investigates complaints. They are not an advocacy or support service (but there are other organisations who can help you with advocacy or support).

You can ask the SPSO to look at your complaint if:

• you have gone all the way through the Edinburgh Leisure complaints handling procedure.
• it is less than 12 months after you became aware of the matter you want to complain about; and the matter has not been (and is not being) considered in court.

The SPSO will ask you to complete a complaint form and provide a copy of our final response to your complaint.

You can do this online at www.spso.org.uk/complain/form

or call them on Freephone: 0800 377 7330.

See the section on Getting help to make your complaint below.

The SPSO’s contact details are:

SPSO Bridgeside House
99 McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NS

(if you would like to visit in person, you must make an appointment first)

Their freepost address is:
FREEPOST SPSO

Online contact: www.spso.org.uk/contact-us