Complaints procedure
Feedback and complaints
We do everything we can to make sure Residents enjoy living at our Retirement Villages and hope you never have cause to complain. However, we recognise that things sometimes go wrong. We really value your feedback when this happens, as this helps us put things right, make improvements and stop it happening again.
We encourage our Residents to speak honestly about what it’s like to live with us. We believe this enables us to constantly improve our service and create the best environment for everyone.
Who can complain?
Anyone who wants to be or is a Resident in one of our Villages, a relative or an appointed friend of a Resident can complain if they are not satisfied with the way we have treated them. We will co-operate in the same way with anyone appropriately appointed on behalf of complainants as we would with the complainants themselves.
Please raise any complaint as soon as possible as this makes it much easier to investigate.
We will not treat you any differently if you make a complaint.
Our Complaints Procedure
STAGE ONE
Please contact the relevant staff member or Manager in writing, over the phone, face to face, or via a complaint form available at the Village Reception. The person you contact will try to sort things out as quickly as possible, over the phone or face to face. If you have put your complaint in writing you should get a written reply within 10 working days from the date we received your complaint.
STAGE TWO
If you are not satisfied with our response at stage one, please advise the person that you originally submitted your complaint to, and they will escalate this internally on your behalf. The Manager will arrange for the matter to be fully investigated and, if necessary will set up a “problem solving meeting” with you. The person investigating your complaint will be someone who has not been involved in handling your complaint before. He or she will send you a written reply within 15 working days.
STAGE THREE
If after the preceding stages you are still not satisfied with the response that you have received, we will again internally escalate your complaint to the Chief Executive of Retirement Villages.
The Chief Executive will arrange for a senior employee of the Company (normally another Village Manager or a senior member of the Operations Team), who has not been involved in the previous investigation, to review your complaint. The Chief Executive will then reply to you, in writing, within 15 working days. We will always provide a final decision in writing within 40 working days of receiving a complaint unless we have previously agreed a later deadline.
If you are still not satisfied with our final decision as set out in the Chief Executive’s letter or we fail to provide that decision by the relevant deadline, you may refer your complaint to the Property Ombudsman.
Contact
The Property Ombudsman (Sales and Property Management Complaints)
Milford House, 43-55 Milford Street, Salisbury Wiltshire SP1 2BP
Telephone: 01722 333306
Email: admin@tpos.co.uk
Online complaint form: https://selfserve.tpos.co.uk
Retirement Villages will co-operate fully with the Ombudsman during any investigation and comply fully with the resulting decision, which will be binding on us.
Notes:
If there is any delay in handling a complaint at any stage we will always explain the reasons (e.g. sickness or a holiday) and agree a new deadline with you.
Where a complaint involves a member of staff or management who has been suspended or dismissed, or where regulatory authorities such as the Care Quality Commission or the police have had to be informed it may not be possible to progress or comment upon a complaint for legal or regulatory reasons until the processes that cover employment and regulatory matters have been fully satisfied.
Under this procedure we do not deal with:
- Complaints about decisions taken by the Committee of the Residents’ Association of any individual Village
- Complaints about companies that provide care services at our Villages; they will have their own complaints procedures
- Complaints about something that happened more than 12 months ago unless it has only just come to light.
- Complaints about something you have been to, or will be going to, a court or tribunal about
- Insurance claims against us
Last revised January 2022
