Fewer complaints upheld as Commission publishes Customer Service report

3 August 2010

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities, has published its annual Customer Service report. The report shows as a result of more robust complaint handling procedures and general improvements in service delivery, a lower proportion of complaints were upheld. There was a reduction of 11% in the proportion of complaints upheld compared to 2008-9.

91 formal complaints were raised about the Commission and resolved by individual parts of the organisation through local resolution, with 32 cases being escalated to Customer Service, compared to 31 in the previous year.

Nearly a third of all complaint issues related to perceptions that the Commission had made mistakes or given unclear or incorrect advice. 27% arose from the Commission's decision that it did not have a regulatory interest in respect of specific complaints raised about charities.

Rosie Chapman, director of policy and effectiveness at the Charity Commission, said;

"Whilst we are pleased with the outcome of both the Independent Complaints Reviewer report and our own review by Customer Service, there is no room for complacency. We have been working hard to continually improve the services that we offer to charities, their advisers and members of the public. We know that it is going to be very challenging to maintain these high standards in a reduced funding climate, knowing that it is hard where resources become limited or workloads increase. I hope that more online working will help with this, and we will still want to provide a good customer experience to anyone who has contact with us."

The Commission issued 10 apologies to complainants and offered two consolatory payments as a result of the complaints examined. The Commission's Independent Complaint Reviewer reviewed 10 complaints during the year, the same as the previous year, and upheld 10% of the issues raised.

There were no complaint cases taken forward by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and the Commission received over 2,000 unsolicited compliments about its work, compared to 1,700 last year.

A full copy of the Customer Service report and previous reports are available on the Commission's website - http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/About_us/About_the_Commission/csreport.aspx

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