Guidance

Chapter 7: Complaints and retention of documents

Updated 1 May 2024

Enquiries and complaints

7.01. You must have an appropriate and effective complaints process across your whole supply chain to resolve customers’ complaints. You must explain your complaints process to the participant in your first contact with them.

7.02. A signature or an email response from the customer confirming they understand and agree with the complaint’s procedure is acceptable evidence of the customer’s agreement to proceed.

7.03. Where a formal complaint has been received from a customer, a drafted response should be submitted to the AtW Operations Service Delivery Business Support Team at atwprovider.contractcorrespondence@dwp.gov.uk before replying to the customers complaint.  AtW Operations will review the draft response and request a rework if appropriate or confirm their approval.  Once you have received an approval from AtW Operations, the response should then be sent to the customer.

7.04. You should refer to the Complaint resolution core briefing pack the DWP Generic Guidance and the DWP Customer Charter when reviewing your processes.

7.05. If a customer is unhappy about the service, they receive from you and raises a complaint, you should ensure that you follow each step of your process robustly in order to bring the complaint to a satisfactory conclusion.

7.06. After following all steps in your process, you must include in your final response a standard text which signposts the customer to contact the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) should they wish to pursue their complaint. The text can be found in Annex E.

7.07. Complainants should be advised that they can escalate their complaint to the ICE within 6 months from the date of the final response that you issue.

7.08. On receipt of a complaint, ICE will contact you to confirm that each step of your internal process has been completed.  If they feel that you have not completed your process satisfactorily, you may be asked to revisit some steps to seek resolution before ICE are prepared to investigate further.

7.09. You must deal with any correspondence of any nature from ICE within the stated timescales or at least within 5 working days.

7.10. ICE is an independent office holder, supported by DWP staff. The ICE does not act on behalf of individuals, but as an independent arbiter.  The ICE Office has 2 primary purposes:

• to provide a free complaint resolution and investigation service to individuals who are unhappy with the final response to their complaint from the relevant DWP Agency, Business, Access to Work Provider
• to support DWP Agencies, Businesses, Access to Work Providers in improving their services, by highlighting where things have gone wrong and making constructive recommendations based on the complaints the ICE Office identify. Recommendations might be systemic in nature or case specific

7.11. The Independent Case Examiner (ICE) will mediate between you and the customer to broker a resolution. If a resolution cannot be agreed between either party, ICE will ask to see the evidence. You must provide all the evidence which relates to the complaint. ICE will again attempt mediation between you and the customer (known as a ‘settlement’ if the evidence is needed to broker an agreement). If this cannot be achieved, ICE will undertake a full investigation of the complaint.

7.12. ICE has 3 stages of complaint examination:

• Stage 1: Resolution
• Stage 2: Settlement
• Stage 3: Investigation report

7.13. These stages will apply to any complaints made about you.  At every stage, you, the provider, will have the opportunity to give your version of events and offer any supporting evidence. More information about each stage can be found in Chapter 2 of the Generic Provider Guidance Grievance and Complaints Procedure – Treating Participants Fairly.

7.14. All draft ICE investigation reports include findings and recommendations. If any aspect of a draft ICE report is disputed, the grounds for the challenge need to be raised by your complaints lead/senior manager. Disputes should be addressed to the ICE Adjudication Manager, who will review the response and establish the nature and extent of the dispute.

7.15. Any challenges to an ICE report must be clearly articulated. This part of the process is only concerned with factual inaccuracies contained in the draft report or misinterpretation of case events, procedures or policy. ICE will not revise a report based on a difference of opinion, such as the level of redress recommended. It is for the ICE to determine the findings and any appropriate remedy based on the case evidence presented.

7.16. In some instances, an informal discussion between yourselves and the ICE Adjudication Manager may resolve any concerns or misunderstanding around the content of the draft ICE report and remove the need to trigger the formal escalation process.

7.17. Your response will be shared and discussed with the ICE, who will provide a view. If the ICE agrees, the report will be amended, and a revised copy shared for comment. If the ICE does not fully agree, the formal escalation process will commence.

7.18. The formal escalation route is in two stages, firstly the ICE Adjudication Manager will reply to you within 10 working days of receipt of the challenge, providing their view and if appropriate, a copy of the revised draft report, allowing 10 working days to respond. If agreement is reached, the escalation will be closed.

7.19. Stage 2 of the process will be instigated if the ICE is not persuaded by the response to the stage one escalation, or your dispute of the draft report remains unresolved, the ICE Head of Office will write to your director to seek agreement on a way forward.

7.20. Further information regarding the three stages of complaints can be found in DWP Generic Guidance Chapter 2 Delivering Provision.

7.21. Please note that under normal circumstances, if a complaint is upheld against you at investigation stage, a financial contribution s recovered from you to go towards funding the ICE service for provider complaints in the following year.

7.22. Further information on complaints procedures can be found in your contract and in DWP Generic Guidance Chapter 2 Delivering Provision

7.23. For more information about ICE, please visit the Independent Case Examiner website

Issues management

7.24. When you identify problems relating to any aspects of the services you deliver, you should resolve such problems in an appropriate manner.

7.25. You should report any proposed changes to the way in which your services are accessed or suggestions for improving the efficiency of the services provided to your Performance Manager in writing. Their approval is required prior to implementation.

Document security

7.26. Please refer to Chapter 8 of the Generic Guidance for DWP Providers - Information Security.

Document retention

7.27. You must keep during your contract and for (7) seven years after the end of the contract period, full and accurate records of the all contract documentation including the services supplied under it, all expenditure reimbursed by the Department and all payments made by the Department.

Please note: Records containing financial information must be retained and maintained in safe storage during your contract and for (7) seven years after the end of the contract period.

7.28. Holistic Assessment Referrals (Annex A), Standard Holistic Assessment Reports (Annex B) and Enhanced Holistic Assessment Reports (Annex C) must be retained for 6 months after payment is received at which point, they can either be:

• securely destroyed and disposed of
• anonymised and retained for up to 6 years