Complaints Policy

Your right to complain 

Frontline connects local health and wellbeing services and provides a platform that facilitates community support for hundreds of individuals every year. Unfortunately, from time to time someone may feel that Frontline was not able to provide them with the help or support they needed which is why we have a complaints policy in place. We are always striving to improve the Frontline platform - what you tell us helps us to do this. 

We will treat your complaint confidentially, seriously and quickly.

What can you do? 

It is important that you let us know if you are unhappy and give us a chance to put things right. Don’t hesitate to contact us, in many cases the best way to resolve your concerns promptly is to call us on 01799 618849. Otherwise, you can move to the more formal complaints process. 

Making a formal complaint 

Review by Frontline

There are several ways to make a complaint. You can email us at info@frontlinereferrals.org.uk, or you can put the information in a letter and send it to us at Frontline Referrals Ltd, Uttlesford Citizens Advice, Barnards Yard, Saffron Walden, CB11 4EB. 

Your complaint will be acknowledged within five working days and we will then carry out a full investigation into the matter. We will check that proper procedures were followed and that Frontline was working as it should. The target time for responding in full to a complaint is twenty working days, however, if the issue is complicated, any delay will be explained.

If the complaint is upheld, you will receive a full apology and, where appropriate, be given details of any action we were able to take to retrieve the situation or at least put things right for the future. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can request a further review. We will tell you how to do this.

The aim is always to achieve resolution at the earliest stage possible. Frontline was designed by Uttlesford Citizens Advice and you can contact Kate Robson, the local manager, via email at kate.robson@uttlesfordca.org.uk. 

Review of your complaint 

If you are not happy after Frontline’s response and you still wish to complain, you can request a further review. We can then share details of our funders or an appropriate steering committee with you. They will not concentrate so much on the detail of the case but will ensure that the process has been carried out correctly, as well as check that the fundamental issues have been investigated fully. Within five working days we will acknowledge your complaint, and the review will be sent to you within twenty working days. Once again, the review will produce a full response, which will contain sufficient information to show that the complaint has been fully investigated, and an apology where appropriate. Details will be given of your right for a further review.

Review by an adjudicator 

Finally, your complaint may go to a person who is entirely separate from Frontline. This person is called the Independent Adjudicator. They conduct a review of the investigation to check: 

• that the investigation has been conducted in line with the stated procedure 
• that the investigation has been handled fairly. 

The Adjudicator will not comment on the substance of your complaint.

Should the Adjudicator find that the stated procedure was not followed or that the matter has not been handled fairly, the Adjudicator will specify why and may give directions for a reinvestigation. 

The decision of the Independent Adjudicator is final.

If you want to progress to this stage, you must do so within four weeks of receiving the Frontline review.