East of Scotland Jazz Education: Complaints Policy
East of Scotland Jazz Education (ESJE) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), charity number SC045686.. ESJE is committed to providing a high standard of quality service to all our stakeholders, primarily through organising the Richard Michael Jazz Summer Course each June / July.
If something goes wrong or you are dissatisfied with our services, please tell us. This document outlines our complaints procedure.
We will take seriously any concern or complaint submitted to us via the steps described below, and will investigate it promptly with a view to resolving it as quickly and fairly as possible. Where appropriate, we will use the outcome of a complaint to inform future activity and decision-making.
1) Definition of a complaint
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not. Our policy covers complaints about:
- the standard of service you should expect from us.
- the behaviour of our staff in delivering our work.
- any action, or lack of action, by our staff, contractors or other associates engaged in our activities.
Our complaints policy does not cover:
- comments about our policies or policy decisions.
- dissatisfaction or complaints expressed with our policies or decisions about bursary awards.
- an immediate concern about a child’s or adult’s safety: please see the ESJE Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy for guidance as to how to proceed in the event of such a concern arising.
- issues that are the subject of court or tribunal proceedings.
2) The complainant
Anyone who receives, requests or is directly affected by our services can make a complaint to us. This includes the representative of someone who is dissatisfied with our service (e.g. a relative, friend or advocate). If you are making a complaint on someone else’s behalf, you will need their written consent. (If they have trouble providing this in writing, please ask them to contact us for further guidance.)
3) How to complain
We can receive complaints by letter or email.
We can not receive complaints in person or over the phone, unless you have a disability which prevents you putting it in writing. In such cases, you may ask a staff member to write it for you.
We can not receive complaints via text or social media.
We will treat your complaint in confidence.
We will deal with your complaint promptly.
We will acknowledge receipt of a written complaint within five working days where we have a return address and you can expect to have a full response
within 20 working days. If this is not possible, you will be informed about the likely timescale and the reasons for any delay.
4) Confidentiality
All complaints received will be dealt with confidentially and in accordance with the requirements of the 2018 GDPR regulations. If we need to share any aspect of your complaint with another party, we will first seek your written permission to do so.
5) Complaints process
- Write to us or email us stating the details of your complaint.
- We will acknowledge receipt within five working days.
- We will take every opportunity to resolve complaints at the first point of contact wherever possible. Every effort will be made to achieve this through informal dispute resolution (including mediation if appropriate) where possible.
- If the complaint is straightforward and can be easily resolved, an explanation, apology or other action (as appropriate) to resolve the complaint will be provided within five working days, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
- Wherever possible, staff members who are the subject of a complaint should not handle or respond to the complaint. Neither should other staff who may have a clear conflict of interest in the matter. These complaints can still be resolved under paragraph 3, above, however, through involving other staff as appropriate.
- For issues that have not been resolved under paragraph 3. above, or are complex, serious or deemed as ‘high risk’, the complaint will be forwarded without delay to the members of the East of Scotland Jazz Education Board who will consider it impartially, thoroughly and fairly to establish the facts of the case. This includes reviewing all relevant evidence and may involve speaking to any individuals complained about, as well as the complainant and any relevant third parties
- Ordinarily complainants will be advised of the outcome within 20 working days. However, in complex cases this may not be possible or appropriate. We will advise you if we are not able to meet our normal timescales and provide an estimation of when a final response will be provided.
- If you are happy with the outcome, we will close your complaint.
- If you are still unhappy with the outcome, you might want to consider contacting the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).
- All information gathered during the complaints process will be handled in a way that complies with Data Protection requirements.
- In all cases, details of the complaint, the outcome and the action taken will be recorded and may be used for future service improvement.
6) Contact details for making a complaint
East of Scotland Jazz Education
℅ Jim Holland
1 Eastlands Road
Rothesay
Isle of Bute
PA20 9EX
jim.holland@esje.org.uk 07446 953000
Alternatively a complaint may be made to richardmichaeljazzsummercourse@esje.org.uk
7) OSCR
Guidance about raising an issue with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator can be found at