NAS SURREY BRANCH COMPLAINTS POLICY

NASSB Complaints Procedure regarding the email forum

This procedure should be read in conjunction with the NAS Surrey Branch’s Information and Rules concerning the use of the Branch’s email forum group.

 

This procedure will operate in the event that any member of the Branch should make a complaint in the form set out below about any use of, moderation of, response on or otherwise in relation to any email drafted for posting on and/or, once moderated, posted on, the Group.

 

At all times, users of the email forum must understand and recognise that the Branch is a volunteer organisation and neither should, nor can, be held to the sort of strictures that would apply in any professional organisation. The Branch’s Committee is made up of volunteers who give of their own free time and manage all matters as best as they are able. They cannot be held to the sort of tests that apply in the business world.

 

Nevertheless, we do have a set of Rules and we require and expect all members to follow them. On occasions when the moderators perceive someone to either be in breach of, or about to risk being in breach of, any Rule, they will respond as appropriate either to request amendments to or deletion of, any email. They retain the right to prevent the publication of any email on the Group.

 

It is, therefore, expected that any member having cause to become concerned, will approach matters in that light if they choose to raise a complaint.

 

If a member does wish to make a complaint, then these are the procedures that the member must follow and the way in which that complaint will be handled:

 

  1. Any verbal complaint will not be dealt with or responded to: instead, the member will be asked to put it in writing by email to surrey.branch@nas.org.uk 
  2. The member must put his/her complaint in writing, in an email, addressed to the Chair of the Branch, for the time being. That email must attach any document(s) that it is wished either to refer to or rely on, including any other emails, either those being complained about or referred to.
  3. The written complaint should be as short and precise as is reasonably and realistically possible.
  4. The Chair will, subject to not being away from home, acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 3 working days and give an indication of what steps will then be taken and the timescale.
  5. It is not the intention or purpose of this Procedure to proscribe the way in which the Chair may choose to deal with enquiries, investigations and responses. Each case should and must be viewed on its own merits and what might be right for one case may not be correct for another or any other.
  6. That said, the intention is for the Chair to seek the views of the person about whom the complaint is being made (whether that person is a member of the Branch or of the Committee or both), to then share those views with the complaint and seek his/her responses. Once those have been received the Chair will decide what further steps to take before making a ruling or whether to go straight to a ruling.
  7. The Chair will communicate his Ruling to both the complainant and the person complained about and his Ruling is final, so far as the Branch is concerned.
  8. If either party is not content with the Chair’s Ruling they may refer the matter to the Head of Guidance, Volunteering & Campaigns (“Head of GVC”) at the NAS who will interview all involved including the complainant and give an outcome and recommended actions. If there remains anyone dissatisfied, then they should so inform the Head of GVC, who will refer the matter to the NAS Director of National Programmes for a final decision. His/her decision will conclude the process.