Complaints and Compliments Guide for Parents
DVACT-PAI is committed to providing a professional, safe, respectful and high-quality service to all service users and members of the public.
We recognise that people accessing our services may have experienced domestic abuse, trauma, safeguarding interventions or involvement in family court proceedings.
We understand that raising a complaint can be difficult and may require sensitivity, patience and reassurance.
We welcome complaints, concerns and compliments as an important part of ensuring that our services remain safe, effective, fair and responsive.
You can download a copy of this guide here.
A guide for professionals is available here.
Our Key Principles
We are committed to:
• Keeping the safety of your child at the centre of our concerns.
• Making your assessment or intervention as helpful as possible.
• Listening to and acknowledging your views and experiences.
• Providing an independent view of risks and being transparent about the information used.
• Responding promptly and transparently to concerns.
• Resolving complaints effectively and efficiently.
• Learning from you to improve our services.
Our Commitment to You and Your Child/ren
What Complaints We Can Consider
You can make a complaint about any expert or staff member that has been employed DVACT-PAI to deliver a service to you if you feel they have not acted according to our standards or procedures. You can also raise a complaint about an expert on our Register of Expert Domestic Abuse Risk Assessors.
Please note that if an assessment has been completed and you do not agree with the experts views within the assessment we are unable to deal with that within this complaints procedure. In those cases you must speak to your solicitor about challenging these views within the court process.
We are unable to deal with complaints about the actions of the local authority, social workers, solicitors, the family courts, the police or anyone else involved in your case that is not employed by DVACT-PAI or a member our Register.
Our Complaints Handling Procedures
Stage 1: Acknowledgment
We will acknowledge receipt within 3 working days and provide a copy of this procedure and our contact details.
Stage 2: Threshold
Should you make a complaint about a suitability assessment or suspension from a programme it is important to note that DVACT-PAI is a private company and reserves the right to refuse access to our interventions. The threshold will not be met if your complaint concerns an assessors decision that an intervention is not suitable at the present time or if your place should be suspended or withdrawn for any of the following reasons:
- They suspect that the intervention is being used for reasons other than genuine behaviour change
- There are indications that there will be substantial difficulties in delivering an intervention to you
- The intervention may adversely impact a victim or child/ren
- There are uncontained risks in the case
- The contract of participation has been breached.
If your complaint concerns an assessment report we will be unable to uphold a complaint that relates to a disagreement about the assessor's independent expert opinion. In these cases you will need to discuss your objections with your solicitor and your disagreement of their opinion should be addressed within the court process.
Stage 3: Investigation
Should your complaint reach the threshold we will thoroughly investigate your complaint, gathering all relevant information, including speaking to relevant staff members, and we may contact you for further information or clarification.
We will respond within 20 working days of completing the investigation. Our response will include a summary of the complaint, the outcome, any actions taken or planned, and an explanation of our decision.
Stage 4: Escalation
If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may escalate the complaint to the team clinical manager. We will provide the relevant contact details and follow a similar procedure for the escalated complaint.
Stage 5: Further escalation
If you remain dissatisfied, you can contact our complaints officer and Director of DV-ACT Ltd, Claire Verney, at claireverney.pai@dvact.org.
We will maintain confidentiality throughout the complaints process unless the investigation leads us to believe there is a risk to you, children or others.
What to do if You Have Concerns
If you wish to raise concerns or make a complaint you need to send this in writing by email to the relevant team or you can complete the form at the bottom of this page.
For the assessments team email info.pai@dvact.org and for final programme assessments email programmes@dvact.org. For a member of our Register you should address your complaint to the register team at expertsregister@dvact.org
You should Include:
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Your contact details
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A clear description of the issue
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Any relevant dates, times, and names
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Any supporting documentation or evidence.
Compliments and Positive Feedback
We also welcome compliments and feedback about what worked well. Your feedback helps us recognise good practice and improve our services.
You may wish to tell us when:
- a programme facilitator has provided an excellent service;
- an assessment has been particularly helpful;
- a programme has supported you to make positive changes;
- our service has helped you keep your child or family safe;
- a member of staff has demonstrated professionalism or compassion;
- a member of staff has gone above and beyond expectations.
Positive feedback is valuable to our organisation and to our staff. We may use anonymised feedback to:
- recognise staff contributions;
- demonstrate the impact of our service;
- identify good practice;
- inform training and development;
- support quality assurance and service improvement.
We will not publish identifiable information about a child, parent or family without an appropriate lawful basis and, where required, consent.
Compliments can be sent to:
Compliments and Feedback Lead: Barbara Newman
Email: info.pai@dvact.org
Tel: 0203 9678368
You can simply tell us:
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what happened;
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who was involved;
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why you found the service helpful;
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the difference it made.
You do not need to provide a lengthy written statement.
Learning and Improvement
Complaints and compliments are an important part of our quality assurance arrangements.
We will look for themes and trends rather than considering each complaint in isolation. Information provided as a complaint or compliment may be used to identify:
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recurring concerns;
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training needs;
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improvements to assessment processes;
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improvements to communication;
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safeguarding learning;
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policy or procedural changes;
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good practice;
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opportunities to improve services for children and families.
Where appropriate, learning will be reported to senior management and/or the organisation's governance arrangements.
Personal information will be handled appropriately when complaints and compliments are reviewed for learning purposes.
Concerns, Complaints and Compliments
Use this form to submit any concerns you may have or if you want to provide positive feedback.
You can also call or email us using the contact information below:
T: 0203 9678368