Guidance

DASA complaints procedure

Published 19 January 2021

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defence-and-security-accelerator-complaints-procedure/dasa-complaints-procedure

Your complaints, suggestions and compliments are important to us because they help us improve our services.

This page describes what you should do if you want to make a formal complaint.

1. When to use this complaints procedure

Examples include:

  • When we have said we would do something and it has not happened,
  • When the quality of our service was not as you expected, for example, when we took too long, lacked consistency or were unclear,
  • When a member of our staff, or someone working on our behalf, acted in an inappropriate or discourteous way.

You should not use this complaints procedure, if:

  • You want to give us general feedback,
  • You want to compliment our services or our staff,
  • You disagree with a scientific or technical decision we have made regarding your application to fund a proposal,
  • The issue you want to complain about is the subject of legal proceedings.

2. How to make a complaint

2.1 Step 1

The person who dealt with your enquiry, application or project can usually resolve your complaint. You should contact them first.

2.2 Step 2

If this person can’t resolve your complaint or if you are not happy with their response, you can contact us by email:

Complaints Officer
Defence and Security Accelerator

accelerator@dstl.gov.uk

We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days.

We will respond to you about your complaint within 10 working days. If we can’t respond by this date, we will tell you why. We will also tell you when we will be able to reply.

Our complaints officer will be responsible for dealing with your complaint. They will work with a relevant senior member of DASA staff to resolve it.

They will:

  • Consider all the complaint
  • Collect relevant information
  • Assess the validity of your complaint
  • Let you know the outcome and, if relevant, any action taken

2.3 Step 3

If you are still unhappy with the outcome, you can ask us to escalate your complaint to the Head of DASA by emailing accelerator@dstl.gov.uk.

If your complaint is about the Head of DASA, we will refer it to a more senior official with the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

2.4 Step 4

If you are not satisfied with the way your complaint has been handled, under the terms of MOD’s complaints policy you have the right to ask for an internal review of your case, which will be carried out by a different senior MOD official.

We will inform you of who to contact to ask for an internal review as part of the response you receive to your initial complaint. If you wish to refer the case to a part of the MOD independent of DASA, you should write to:


Corporate Strategy and Governance
Level 3 Zone M
Main Building
Whitehall
London SW1A 2HB

2.5 Step 5

If you feel we have still not resolved your complaint, you have the right to contact the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Ombudsman) through your Member of Parliament.

What to do before making a complaint via the Ombudsman

3. The records we keep

As a public body we have a duty to record and track any complaints we receive.

We store information about complaints on our electronic data storage systems.

Only staff dealing with complaints and our professional advisors have access to this information.

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