Customer Service

We care about getting things right for you; your comments, compliments and complaints can help us ensure that we give you the best possible service, and that we achieve the outstanding standards we strive for.

Download our Customer Service Promise for England, Scotland and Wales.

We want to hear from you

We aim to provide outstanding services to everyone. You can help us to do this by sharing any comments, compliments or complaints:

  • Comment, raise a concern or suggest how we can change or improve our services or;
  • Compliment a particular service or member of staff or;
  • Complain about our service or the way you have been treated.

We seek to work in a way that takes account of your opinions because these views will influence the decisions we make about the services we provide.

If you have a comment, compliment or complaint that you wish to make, you can complete the following steps:

  • Contact your local Area Manager of TACT who is responsible for the fostering service in your area
  • Complete the contact form on the right side of this page with your details and details of your comment, compliment or complaint

Complaints

We recognise that sometimes raising a concern may not be enough and that you may wish to take the matter through our complaints procedure. The procedure has three stages:

Stage One - The informal stage


You should:

  • Contact the person who is providing the service so they can try to put things right for you. This may involve speaking to the local Area Manager or relevant Executive Director.
  • Email your complaint to [email protected]. Your complaint will be reviewed by the most appropriate member of staff.

We will:

  • Aim to respond the same day to a telephone call regarding a complaint
  • Acknowledge a written complaint within five working days
  • Write a response to a complaint raised under stage one within ten working days of the complaint being received. If this timescale is not achievable, this will be explained in writing, setting out a clear date for response.


Stage Two - The formal stage

You will need to put your complaint in writing; you can email it to [email protected].

You should put your complaint in writing if you haven’t already done so. This should be directed to TACT’s Customer Care Officer who will contact you to discuss and agree which of the two possible methods most suitable to handle your complaint.

  • Mediation – this is where a person not involved in the complaint assists both parties to discuss the circumstances that lead to the problem and to try to reach an agreed resolution. This may be an independent manager within TACT or an independent person employed outside the organisation
  • Investigation – this is where a person not involved in the complaint carries out an investigation and makes recommendations on any findings. This may be carried out by an independent manager within TACT  or an independent person employed outside the organisation. This process will be overseen by an independent Executive Director for TACT.

This process should be concluded within 28 working days of the receipt of the written complaint. Where more time is required to complete the investigation, the reason for the delay should be discussed with relevant parties.

The relevant Executive Director will write to you within 28 working days of receiving the report setting out TACT’s response and, where appropriate, proposed actions to the complaint.


Stage Three - The review panel

If you are dissatisfied with the response you received following Stage Two of the complaint’s process, please write to the Customer Care Officer within 28 working days, stating in your letter what you are unhappy with and what you think we need to do to put it right for you.

The review panel is then required to meet within 28 working days of the request being made. Where a delay is unavoidable, you will be informed of the reasons in writing and advised of the new panel hearing date.

The review panel will be comprised of the TACT Chief Executive or Senior Manager who does not have line management responsibility for the area of complaint, one Trustee and an independent person who will Chair the panel.

The panel’s role is to review the issues, not to re-investigate the complaint or consider any new issues that may be raised.

The panel is required to decide upon and record its recommendation within 24 hours of the end of the meeting. The Chair of the panel must notify in writing to you, the agency and anyone else considered to have an interest, of its recommendations and its reasons for them.