Worcester Beer Cider & Perry Festival 2024 Complaints & Grievance Procedure
Reviewed and revised 2024
WBCPF are committed to providing a high-quality Festival. We would like to receive comments about our festival and for you to tell us when we get things wrong.
A complaint is an expression of discontent or unhappiness about a situation while a grievance is formal complaint made on the basis of something that somebody feels is unfair. We will listen to your comments, complaints and grievances treat them seriously and learn from them so that we can continuously improve our service.
Our policy covers complaints about the standard of service we provide, the behaviour of our staff and any action or lack of action by staff
Our complaints policy does not cover: matters that have already been fully investigated through this complaints procedure, anonymous complaints, persistent and or vexatious complaints or complaints about access to information where procedures and remedies are set out in legislation, e.g. Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act
WBCPF standards for handling complaints
- We have a two stage process to manage complaints and more serious grievances.
- We treat all complaints seriously and we will deal with them promptly.
- Many complaints can be resolved by having an open and honest discussion about the situation. If not satisfied with the action taken after raising a concern, a complainant can raise a formal grievance by email or post.
- You will be treated with courtesy and fairness at all times – we would hope that you will be courteous and fair in your dealings with our staff.
Unreasonable behaviour
If during the complaints process our staff encounter unreasonable, violent, threatening, or intimidating behaviour the process will be paused until this ceases; if necessary appropriate authorities will be informed.
Confidentiality
All complaints received will be dealt with confidentially and in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998.
How to complain
Stage 1 Complaint
Anyone who believes they have been unfairly treated at the festival is encouraged to discuss this with a member of the WBCPF committee (wearing Red T-shirts) in the first instance who will contact the relevant team leader to try to resolve the complaint by discussion with the complainant; the majority of complaints will be resolved at this stage.
Stage 2 Grievance
If WBCPF and the complainant are unable to resolve the complaint at stage 1 the complainant can make a formal grievance using email or by post. The complainant should state the nature of the complaint, any action already taken and what resolution is being sought. Copies of documents and correspondence should be included and any witnesses identified.
Investigation and gathering evidence
WBCPF will appoint an examiner to interview, by phone or in person, all relevant parties, including the person who raised the grievance and any identified witnesses. The investigation has three purposes: to gather all available evidence, to determine whether there is a grievance to answer and to help to determine the next steps. Notes will be taken
Interviewees will be told that any information they provide may be shared with the person raising the grievance. They will be given a copy of the meeting notes to confirm they are accurate or to amend if required. The examiner will also examine relevant written documentation.
Remedies
When we get things wrong we will act to: accept responsibility, explain what went wrong and why, put things right by making any changes required
The action we take to put matters right in response to a complaint can include any combination of the remedies set out below. The general principle we follow is that a complainant should, so far as possible, be put in the position he or she would have been in, had things not gone wrong. Remedial actions may include reviewing or changing the service we provided for future festivals, improving communication to prevent any future misunderstanding, improved training and supervision for our staff and compensation
The remedy chosen needs to be proportionate and appropriate to the failure in service; an apology is normally appropriate but other action may also be necessary; an apology is not an acceptance of liability under Section 2 of the Compensation Act 2006
The complainant will be informed of any remedial action we take
Compensation
In the majority of cases changes we will put in place will satisfy the complainant. Financial compensation will only apply in cases where the loss or suffering is considered to warrant such a payment
Where it is decided following investigation of a complaint, that a complainant has suffered an injustice and or hardship resulting in direct or indirect financial loss we will determine whether compensation is an appropriate remedy by looking at all the evidence, including how much the complainant can demonstrate they have lost, or what extra costs they have incurred as a result of our maladministration
The reason for our decision will be recorded by the decision maker and included in our response
Appeals
Not everyone will be happy with the outcome or how their complaint/grievance has been managed. A complainant has the right to appeal on the following grounds:
- they believe that the outcome is wrong,
- they believe that the process was wrong or unfair at any stage,
- there is new evidence to consider
The appeal should be put in writing. All new evidence to support the appeal should be provided and any new witnesses identified. The appeal may be sent by letter or email within five working days of receiving the outcome of the complaint.
The appeal manager will consider the new evidence provided with the appeal, question witnesses and determine whether an alternative outcome is appropriate.
An outcome email will be sent as soon as possible to state the decision, give the reason(s) for the decision and list any further actions that need to be taken as a result of the appeal
The decision will be final and there is no further right of appeal
Recording complaints and comments
We will log all complaints we receive so that we can monitor the types of problems, the best way to sort them out and how long we are taking to deal with them. This also helps us to take a closer look at how we can improve our own service delivery.
Quality of service is an important measure of the effectiveness of WBCPF. As well as learning from your complaints we are also interested in other ideas you may have on how we might do things better.
You can make your comments verbally to a committee member or by email. We will use your comments to help improve our service. However, the 2-stage procedure outlined above does not apply to comments.