Complaint Procedures for Charities

No general statute requires one, but the Charity Commission expects charities to handle complaints properly and the annual return asks about your policies, so a written procedure is the practical standard. It also protects you: complaints handled badly are what escalate into regulator contact and reputational damage. This sub-folder provides a full procedure for larger charities, a simpler version for small ones and guidance notes on choosing and operating them.

Who can complain and how, who receives and investigates at each stage, realistic timescales, how outcomes are communicated, an appeal or review stage and how complaints are logged and reported to trustees. Keep the first stage informal and fast; most complaints die there when handled well. Match the procedure to your size: a two-stage process suits a small charity, larger organisations need defined roles. Both template versions here follow that structure.

Usually direct them back to your own procedure. The Commission is not a complaints service; it acts on regulatory concerns, serious harm, significant financial loss, trustee misconduct, not service dissatisfaction. Where a complaint does reveal a serious incident you should be the one reporting it, promptly and with your handling plan. A working complaints procedure is your best evidence that trustees are in control if the Commission ever looks.

Through the same procedure, but know the escalation path differs: fundraising complaints can be taken to the Fundraising Regulator, which expects charities to have handled the complaint themselves first. Log fundraising complaints separately, they are a warning system for practices that could breach the Code of Fundraising Practice, and brief whoever fundraises for you, including agencies, on your procedure. The guidance notes here cover the fundraising route alongside the general one.