Guidance

Complaints Redirection Online Presentation (HTML)

Published 11 May 2020

1: Heading and Introduction

Welcome to the Complaints Redirection presentation from the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner.

The Commissioner has a statutory duty to promote good practice to those who provide immigration advice or services.

The complaints redirection scheme allows advisers to resolve complaints directly with the client by addressing their dissatisfaction in a way that they remain loyal to the organisation and are more likely to use their services again or recommend them to a friend or family member.

We hope that this presentation will give you the information and tools you need to investigate a redirected complaint under your business’s own complaint procedure.

2: Aims

The aim of this presentation is to explain the OISC’s Redirection Scheme and the benefits it offers to advisers and complainants. It covers six principal areas:

1. What is complaint redirection?
2. What the benefits are to you as an adviser and to the complainant
3. The aims of the redirection scheme
4. How the redirection scheme works
5. What makes a good investigation; and
6. Possible resolution outcomes

3: Objective

The objective of this presentation is to increase the possibility of an early resolution of a complaint and, where appropriate, for the complainant to receive some form of redress.

4: What is a Complaint Redirection?

The redirection scheme allows an organisation to resolve and settle complaints of a less serious nature, without direct intervention from the OISC.

On receipt of a complaint, the OISC will assess whether it is suitable to be redirected to the adviser to investigate under their own complaints process. If the complaint is deemed to be of a serious nature a full investigation will be carried out by the OISC.

Complaints considered to be appropriate for redirection include those that do not involve serious behavioral or conduct issues; serious competence issues or allegations of a criminal nature.

Once an organisation has completed their investigation, the OISC will review the investigation and outcome to ensure it has been dealt with:

• correctly and fairly
• in line with the organisation’s complaint procedure and;
• The OISC Code of Standards.

5: Benefits to the Organisation

Complaints are an opportunity for you to consider your clients experience of your service and decide whether your organisation has provided a service that has fallen short of its usual standards.

We recognise that such issues do occur from time to time, but a complaint may trigger the need for your organisation to re-evaluate or change its policies, procedures and processes to prevent the same issue recurring.

More importantly, you have control of the resolution to be offered to your client as well an opportunity to rectify any misunderstandings around the service offered so that you can continue to maintain a good client/adviser relationship.

6: Benefits to the Complainant

The redirection process allows the complainant to express their dissatisfaction about the service they have received directly to the adviser.

We recognise clients can misunderstand or have unrealistic expectations about a service they have received. The most effective way to remedy this would be for the adviser to give their version of events which can highlight where any misunderstandings occurred. This also creates the opportunity to regain valuable trust that may have been broken.

For the complainant this provides a speedier path to resolution and ultimately it allows the negotiation of an outcome that satisfies both parties.

7: Aims of the Redirection Scheme

The redirection scheme was set up by the OISC to:

• Increase the possibility of an early resolution of a complaint
• Increase adviser responsibility in dealing with complaints
• Encourage advisers to develop a strong complaints procedure
• Increase consumer satisfaction and improve the organisation’s reputation
• Reduce the OISC’s involvement in these complaints

All regulated organisations must have a complaints procedure in place. Dealing with your own complaints allows you to amend or add changes to your complaints procedure which could lead to a better service to your clients and an improvement in your organisation’s reputation.

It also reduces the need for the OISC’s involvement in formally investigating complaints of a less serious nature, allowing us to concentrate our resources on more serious matters. This is a key strategy under better regulation principles.

8: Redirection Process Part 1

On receipt of a complaint, the OISC will make a decision as to whether it is suitable for redirection: This will be the case if there are:

• No allegations of a criminal nature
• No identifiable trends in the type of complaints
• No sudden influx of complaints
• No serious allegations which, if proven, could lead to direct action being taken against the organisation

If deemed appropriate, the OISC will contact the complainant to obtain permission for the complaint to be redirected as there may be other reasons why it should not be dealt with in this manner. For example the complainant may already have tried unsuccessfully to raise the matter with the adviser or they may be a particularly vulnerable person.

A Complaint Notification Letter will be sent to the organisation and the complainant, summarising the complaint and any possible breaches to the Commissioner’s Code of Standards. A Complaint Investigation Sheet will be included for the adviser’s response.

The organisation will be expected to investigate the matter in accordance with the timeframe set out in their OISC approved complaints procedure. For most organisations this is around 2 weeks.

9: Redirection Process Part 2

The adviser should ensure they provide the OISC with all requested documents and a completed complaint investigation record within the deadline set by the Commissioner.

The CIR should contain the following information:

• The full name and position of the member of staff who conducted the investigation
• The steps taken to investigate the complaint and to fully understand the issues raised, for example by speaking to the complainant by telephone.
  *The adviser will need to respond to each allegation raised by providing their own comments, with supporting evidence
• Details of the action taken to resolve the complaint should be given with an explanation of how and why this conclusion was reached
• Advisers may realise that after investigating a complaint they will need to implement changes to their policies and procedures and inform the OISC of when these changes are to be made.

10: Redirection Process Part 3

• The OISC will review the complaint investigation to ensure the adviser has complied with the Commissioner’s requests in the Complaint Notification Letter
• If the Commissioner is satisfied with the investigation and the conclusion reached, the complaint will be closed. A closure letter detailing the Commissioner’s recommendations will be sent to the adviser and a copy to the complainant.
• If the Commissioner is dissatisfied with the investigation and/or conclusion reached, the complaint will be formally investigated by the OISC. A Statement of Complaint will be issued with the potential breaches of the Commissioner’s Codes identified.

11: What makes a good investigation

To carry out a good investigation, it is recommended that you:

1. Demonstrate behaviour and language that is reasonable, open, inviting, transparent and accommodating
2. Be prepared to compromise in order to come to a satisfactory outcome for both parties involved
3. Contact the complainant to clarify details of the complaint and ask what an acceptable resolution would be
4. Develop a good investigation plan of action and pay specific attention to identifying crucial evidence
5. Review the client’s case file against the allegations made
6. Make notes of any patterns or gaps in the information provided by both parties during the case
7. Obtain supporting evidence to either prove or disprove any allegation made
8. Clearly communicate your findings with the client against each allegation made and reference supporting evidence
9. Use this as an opportunity to improve your business and its’ reputation

12: Possible Resolution Outcomes

It is best practice to consider whether the following resolution outcomes are appropriate once you have concluded your investigation:

• A written apology
• This should express responsibility for the failing that has occurred
• A telephone apology
• A full or partial refund
• This should be a reasonable amount to put the complainant back into the position in which they would have been if the failing had not occurred.
• An offer to redo the work and / or provide further representations to the Home Office free of charge
• An explanation with supporting evidence, as to why you believe you have acted competently and in the best interest of the client

Bear in mind that simply taking responsibility can in itself be helpful to the client, particularly if they will need to explain at a later stage that their immigration status was affected. Immigration judges are much more likely to be sympathetic to a client who is in a particular situation because of a simple mistake by their adviser. Even very good firms will occasionally make a mistake.

13: Complaints Redirection Process

This is a simple guide to the Complaints Redirection Process

14: Outcomes

Now that we have come to the end of this presentation, you should understand the purpose of the complaints redirection scheme and the benefits gained by following the process.

15: Thank You

Thank you for taking your time to complete this presentation and we hope that you have found it to be interesting and useful.