This policy is for people who use Milewood services, their families and friends, sponsors and the public.
The policy is not for current or former employees who have left Milewood within the last 6 months. They must raise their concerns through our Human Resources processes.
Milewood colleagues must also refer to our internal complaints process and guidance when managing a complaint.
- We are open to complaints; we want to learn from the things that go wrong
- We are open and transparent about the complaints we receive and the processes we follow
- We recognise that understanding what is not working supports us to take the right action to improve.
Introduction
This policy explains how someone can make a complaint about Milewood and what they can expect from us when they do this. Every complaint received will be managed in line with this policy even when escalated to a senior leader in the organisation.
This policy is also available in Easy Read format.
Our Approach
We are committed to providing a high-quality service, and we understand that complaints help us to improve what we do.
We show this commitment by:
- Making our complaint process as easy as possible for complainants. This includes providing this policy in languages other than English as quickly as possible when this is required.
- Treating all complaints seriously, confidentially, with empathy and an open mind. This includes investigating complaints from anonymous complainants.
- Making sure that colleagues know and understand their role and responsibilities in managing and resolving complaints.
- Recording and monitoring all complaints and identifying any regular themes to support learning.
- Reviewing the complaints policy and procedures annually
- Fulfilling our internal and external reporting responsibilities. This includes notifying relevant authorities should a complaint involve a safeguarding concern.
- Following the principles of the NHS England ‘Ask Listen Do’ project. This means:
We actively encourage feedback on our work and provide assurance that a person’s care, support or advice is not negatively affected because of a complaint.
We listen to the complaints we get and undertake thorough and balanced investigations.
We act on what we have been told and make improvements to our ways of working, making sure we tell the complainant what we are doing.
We are also committed to understanding the experiences of people who may be subjected to inequities because of their age, disability, race/ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, poverty or other status. We know that such inequalities can lead to further inequities in how people experience a complaints process. We are clear that every complaint must be treated fairly with equal respect and every complainant with empathy. We will also consider any reasonable adjustments required or requested to support any complainant during the complaints process
Information you will find in this policy
- What is a complaint?
- How can someone make a complaint?
- How do we respond to a complaint?
- Appeals
- Why we might not investigate a complaint
- Privacy and data protection
- Useful contacts
What is a complaint?
We define a complaint as any communication of dissatisfaction with an activity or experience with Milewood that has fallen short of the expectations of the person complaining or identifies a shortfall in the values we hold.
Complaints can be difficult to make and may sometimes be hard to identify. If a person raises a grumble, raises several concerns, raises a concern in anger, or simply states they are unhappy about something we have done, that is a complaint and should be treated as such. All expressions of dissatisfaction should be treated as formal complaints, even though they may be resolved immediately.
We recognise that people sometimes feel more comfortable suggesting improvements or ideas about how we can do things better. We encourage people to share their suggestions with the local team or manager. Such contact details can be obtained by contacting our Support Hub on 01425 485520
How can someone make a complaint?
To make a complaint, people can:
- Speak directly with a team member
- Telephone our Support Hub on 01425 485520
- Emailspeakup@milewood.co.uk
- Fill out our online feedback form on our website
- Write to, or email, a local or senior manager
- Complete our Easy Read Complaint Form and post it to us at:
Complaints, Milewood, 4 Sidings Court, Doncaster DN4 5NU
We encourage people to complain as soon as possible after the vent has occurred so we can put things right quickly. However, a complaint can be made within 12 months of the event/concern, or 12 months from the date the complainant becomes aware of their concern.
Advocates and representatives
We understand that some people may wish to make a complaint through an advocate or a nominated representative. If this is the case, we will request consent from the complainant to share information/outcomes. We will typically request written or verbal consent; however reasonable adjustments can be made to obtain consent through a process that meets the complainant’s individual needs.
How do we respond to a complaint?
We acknowledge complaints within 3 working days by email, telephone, letter, or in person to clarify what we believe the complaint is about and provide the complainant with a copy of our complaints policy.
We will outline the next steps to the complainant and explain how we will investigate their complaint. All complaints will have an identified investigator who will clarify with the complainant any aspects they are unclear about before completing their investigation. The complexity of the complaint determines which colleague completes the investigation. Where possible, a manager most local to the complaint will be the investigator. We aim to conclude complaint investigations within 25 working days. More complex investigations may take longer to resolve. However, should we need more time than expected, we will inform the complainant of this, provide them with a new date and an explanation for the delay.
Outcome of complaints
When we have completed our investigation, we will share our outcome(s) with the complainant in writing. We conclude our complaint as:
- Upheld – our investigation has identified that our actions or services did not meet the expected standard(s)
- Partially upheld – our investigation has identified errors or shortcomings in certain areas of the complaint but not in others
- Not upheld – our investigation has identified that our actions or services are in line with the expected standard(s)
- Inconclusive – we are unable to determine an outcome based on our findings.
Where we make recommendations for learning, these will be shared with the complainant. The actions needed to implement this learning will be overseen by the relevant manager. They are responsible for informing the Regional Manager once the actions have been completed.
Appeals
If the complainant is unhappy with our investigation process or our proposal to resolve it, they can appeal within 15 working days of receiving their complaint outcome.
A senior manager will review the complaint investigation to make sure:
- The correct process was followed, and the complaint was handled correctly
- All concerns have been responded to and resolved
- The complainant was treated fairly, justly, with empathy and respect.
Should the senior manager identify concerns with our original investigation, they may recommend that the complaint is re-investigated.
To request an appeal, complainants should contact our Freedom to Speak Up Guardian atspeakup@milewood.co.uk and include their name, the service or colleague they have complained about, and their reason for the appeal request.
The FTSU Guardian will allocate a senior manager to undertake the appeal process within 30 working days. If we are unable to resolve a complaint after our appeal stage, the complainant has the right to contact the appropriate regulator or ombudsman. Contact details for these are provided below in the ‘Useful contacts’ section. Please be aware that different regulators have different escalation timeframes:
- In England a complainant must escalate their complaint to the relevant Ombudsman within 12 months of the event/incident or when the complainant first became aware of the issue.
Why we might not investigate a complaint
Time limit for making a complaint
We encourage people to complain as soon as possible after the event has occurred so we can put things right quickly. However, a complaint can be made within 12 months of the event/concern, or 12 months from the date the complainant became aware of their concern.
Legal proceedings
If a complaint is part of a legal action, Milewood will continue to investigate the complaint unless doing so could affect legal proceedings. The decision on whether to investigate will be made by our CEO. The complainant and any relevant legal team will be informed of the outcome.
Unreasonable complainant behaviour
Where a complaint is unreasonable, persistent or malicious, we will notify the complainant that this is our belief and explain why. We will not respond further to these complaints to enable the complainant to seek other sources of assistance. This is to protect our colleagues and to avoid engaging in difficult conversations that cannot lead to resolution.
Examples of this may include:
- Being abusive, threatening or acting in a manner intended to intimidate colleagues
- Refusing to accept certain issues are outside the scope of Milewood, our objectives or our complaints policy
- Submitting repeat complaints after our complaint process has been completed
- Making excessive demands on the time and resources of colleagues, such as lengthy phone calls, details correspondence every few days, and expecting immediate responses.
- Making a complaint that is discriminatory about a person or group of people.
The decision as to whether a complaint is unreasonable, persistent or malicious is made by the Head of Quality, Governance & Safeguarding, who must be notified by the investigating manager of their concern that this may be the case. If the complaint relates to our Quality Team or in the absence or unavailability of the Head of Quality, Governance & Safeguarding, another senior leader will make this decision.
If a complainant is unhappy with our decision, we will encourage them to contact the relevant Ombudsman.
Privacy and data protection
Information held about complaints will be held and managed by Milewood in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK-GDPR. We will not share a complainant’s name or details with anyone who does not need them. However, in some circumstances, we may need to share your compliant on an anonymous basis with the relevant regulators, local authority and Ombudsman’ services.
Milewood’s Privacy notice for complainants
This is our new, updated privacy notice for complainants, which was last updated in October 2025.
At Milewood, we are committed to operating in a confidential way and respecting your privacy and protecting your personal information.
Thank you for submitting your feedback to enable us to improve our services.
Within this context and with your consent, we need personal information such as your name, location, and contact details so that we can:
- get in touch with you
- direct your feedback to the most appropriate team
- analyse complaints to improve our services as per legitimate interests.
- We may also share your complaint on an anonymous basis with the relevant regulators, local authority and Ombudsman’ services.
We will keep your information securely for 7 years.
You have the right to:
- revoke your consent at any time
- access the data we hold about you. You can do this by completing our request form and you will need one piece of ID to complete the form
- have your data erased from our systems
- data portability
- restrict or object to the use of the data.
- You can query the use of your data by Milewood by emailing the Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@milewood.co.uk or contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).