Corporate report

CMA complaints policy

Published 27 November 2014

This document explains how the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) deals with complaints from members of the public about its own conduct. It does not cover complaints about businesses or other third parties.

Our aim is at all times to deal with members of the public fairly and properly. If you feel that we have not met that standard, please let us know. Where there is reason to believe our conduct has fallen short, we want to be able to resolve any issues and learn from what happened.

What is a complaint?

We will treat any expression of dissatisfaction about our conduct as a complaint. However we ask you to contact us in writing as indicated below so that we can consider the matter properly.

Read how the CMA handles information for a statement of the approach taken by the CMA to complaints received about businesses and business practices.

This policy covers complaints about:

• how you or others have been treated by the CMA
• our actions or lack of action in performing our legal functions
• the behaviour of our staff

The policy covers general complaints, not matters which are subject to special procedures. These include the following

• refusals of requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Data Protection Act 1988
• certain procedural disputes in investigations under the Competition Act 1998, or relating to certain requests for confidentiality in merger cases and market studies and investigations, which (if not resolved after being raised with the most senior CMA contact(s) responsible for that case) should be referred to the CMA’s Procedural Officer
• other complaints by persons or organisations against whom the CMA is currently taking enforcement action, or are parties to CMA investigations, which (again, if unresolved after consultation with the senior contact responsible) should be referred to the CMA’s General Counsel

If your complaint is about a decision of the CMA it may be subject to appeal to a court or tribunal, in which case you should consider seeking independent legal advice.

How to complain

The CMA’s contact details are available at www.gov.uk/cma. A complaint may be sent to general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk. It will help us to deal quickly and fully with your complaint if you can state that you are making a complaint and set out your concern in writing as clearly as possible.

Our policy is to take legitimate complaints seriously and deal with them according to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Principles of Good Complaint Handling. If you make a complaint, we will resolve it as promptly as we can, but if it gives rise to serious issues we may need to take time in order to investigate it properly.

Our procedure

Stage one

We will send an acknowledgement of your complaint. Our aim is to do this within five working days. Your complaint will then normally be passed to an appropriate person who is in a position to consider it in the light of relevant experience. We will aim to respond as soon as possible, and in any event within 30 working days. If we cannot provide a final response within that time, we will contact you to provide an update, an explanation of the delay, and an indication of when a final response can be expected.

Stage two

We expect most complaints to be resolved at stage one. However, if you consider that the response you have received is not fair and appropriate, you may contact us at general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk to request a review of your complaint by a more senior official. You should do this within 30 working days of receiving a stage one response unless there is a special reason for doing so later. We will aim to respond as soon as possible, and in any event within 30 working days. If we cannot provide a final response within that time, we will contact you to provide an update and an indication of when a final response can be expected.

Complaints not warranting detailed investigation

Where we receive a complaint that in our view does not raise any issue that calls for investigation in depth, we will be prepared to give brief reasons for our view, but having done so will not normally engage in further correspondence on the merits of the position we have taken. This applies, for instance, to complaints whose only purpose is to convey the complainant’s objection to one of the following:

• steps we have taken in compliance with a legal requirement, or with a procedure established in compliance with the law after proper public consultation
• a refusal to take action where we have no power to act
• a refusal to enter into correspondence about a decision not to give detailed consideration to taking action under our powers

Vexatious complaints

The CMA is under no obligation to respond to complaints which have an improper purpose or effect, such as harassment of staff, or to repeated submissions of a complaint to which a final response has been provided as described above. Before refusing to correspond further in respect of a complaint considered to be vexatious we will give due warning to the complainant.