This page is about why street outreach services should have effective complaints policies and procedures and how they should operate.
Complaints procedures information on this page is from the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and includes best practice from their case study “Quality Service – Effective Complaint Management” compiled by the Treasury Board of Canada.
Street outreach teams, like all services for homeless people, should have effective policies and procedures because they are an essential part of customer care. Complains – and compliments – are valuable sources of information that services can use to improve programme delivery and access. The ability to register dissatisfaction with a service is an important right and protection for the user and also a useful tool for services themselves.
Effective complaint management benefits an organisation in four ways:
Although complaints can initially increase work effort, in the longer term they can reduce overall workload. By dealing with complaints, systematic or recurring problems are dealt with and thus reduce further complaints on the same issue(s).
“A sign of a positive environment is one in which people feel comfortable enough to make complaints”
Carter, M. (1999)
Complaints arise when clients are dissatisfied with a project or service. To find the right type of solution, you need to understand the nature of the client’s dissatisfaction. Some complaints can not be resolved, in such cases you must still treat complaints with respect and fully explain the reasons why your organisation can not accept or resolve the complaint. Where appropriate, you should direct the complainant elsewhere for assistance.
A good way to determine if an expression of dissatisfaction is a complaint is to ask, “Does the client’s dissatisfaction require the organisation to take some action on the matter, other than providing routine services, information or explanations, or processing an appeal under standard policy?”
Outreach workers may also be involved in supporting or advocating for a client who wants to make a complaint or appeal against another agency or service (e.g. eviction from a hostel, ban from a day centre). In these situations, workers should speak to their line manager, establish the facts and, where appropriate, direct the client to formal complaints policies.
The procedure should enable clients to make complaints verbally and informally as well as making more formal written complaints. Some services include suggestions and compliments in the same system for gaining the views of users.
Most importantly, every complaint, whether formal or informal, should be:
Complaints are a way of learning and improving the quality of the service. However, in projects where staff feel they are unsupported or on the defensive they will not be understood in this way. A “blame culture” will mean that complaints are not acknowledged or addressed
For a complaint handling system to be effective, it needs to have
An effective complaint handling system will then pass two principle tests:
1 - Informal resolution
Trained and empowered front-line staff
Empathy with the complainant
The freedom to apologise
The authority to resolve and provide redress
Complaint recorded and used to drive improvement
2 - Formal internal investigation
Trained and empowered investigative staff
An impartial and transparent process
A flexible and proportionate method of investigation
Clear lines of accountability and authority
The authority to resolve and provide redress
Complaint recorded and used to drive improvement
3 - Appeal
A clear and published process
Escalated authority
A transparent and independent review
The authority to redress
Complaint recorded and used to drive improvement
4 - Referral to an independent adjudicator
A clear and published entitlement - that may be appropriate to refer to at an earlier stage.
It can be difficult to encourage rough sleepers experiencing chaotic lifestyles to complain when they are dissatisfied with a service. Nevertheless, services have a duty to ensure that a rigorous complaints procedure is in place and that service users have a number of avenues to access these procedures.
Some good practice recommendations include:
business cards with details of the outreach service and contact details (phone and fax number, email address, postal address) in case of complaint
access to more than one outreach worker on the streets – especially in the case of entrenched rough sleepers. A rough sleeper may wish to make a complaint about his/her current access to the service and person(s) he/she has met
regular reviews with former rough sleepers who have used the service, to assess service-wide complaints. A client may not wish to report a complaint at the time of using the service but may wish to do so retrospectively
client led participation and review can help to develop policies which pro-actively improve the service to reduce numbers and types of complaint.