Complaints procedure

Our customer service commitments and how to make a complaint about the Department for International Trade's services.

This information page was withdrawn on

The Department for International Trade (DIT) was replaced by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). This page is no longer current.

We are committed to providing a high quality service.

Occasionally, things do not go as planned or could have been better. If this happens, we’d really like your feedback, as it gives us an opportunity to put things right and helps us to improve our services.

Customer service commitments

We are committed to:

  • treating you with respect and decency when you contact us
  • providing you with detailed information about our services, via our website and staff
  • clearly setting out the standards we’re committed to, and letting you know how we’re doing against them

Customer satisfaction rates

We aim to:

  • increase customer satisfaction to 90% for businesses for whom we provide intensive one-on-one support
  • resolve at least 90% of all complaints we receive first time

Making a complaint about a service

Most complaints can be dealt with by the team that delivered the service. All feedback is confidential.

Please contact them with:

  • your name, email address, postal address and telephone number
  • a clear description of your feedback or complaint and what you would like us to do to sort things out
  • as much detail as possible about relevant names, dates and places

If you prefer not to directly contact the team that provided the service, or do not feel your complaint was dealt with properly, you can:

Complaints Team
Department for International Trade
Old Admiralty Building
London
SW1A 2DY

What happens next

The Complaints Manager will pass your complaint to the relevant person in the department to respond.

We aim to answer all complaints within 20 working days. When we cannot do this we will explain why and give you a date by which you can expect a full reply.

If you’re not satisfied

Ask for a review

If you’re not satisfied you should contact us again asking for a review of the decision. This review will be undertaken by an independent senior official within the department.

Please explain clearly why you’re unhappy with the responses so far and what you would like us to do to sort things out.

This is the final stage of the internal complaints process.

Complain to the ombudsman

If you’ve gone through our complaints procedure and you’re still not satisfied, you can ask your local MP to refer it to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

You can get more advice from the ombudsman’s office by contacting:

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Milbank Tower
30 Milbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Telephone: 0345 015 4033
Fax: 0300 061 4000

Making a complaint about a policy or a public body

If you have a complaint about a government policy that DIT is responsible for, you should write to your local MP or one of our ministers.

If you have a complaint or comment about one of the agencies and public bodies that we work with, please contact them directly. They will investigate your complaint under their own complaints procedures.

DIT is only able to consider complaints regarding the services provided by the department.

If you think you have been sold something unfairly or have been subject to illegal business activity then you need to contact Trading Standards.

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