Complaints Procedure
The procedure below applies to complaints about services supplied directly by the Arts Council or by third party organisations/individuals funded by the Arts Council. Please note that it does not apply where organisations/individuals are dissatisfied with the outcome of their application and wish to challenge the decision. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of a funding decision you can challenge the decision through the Funding Review procedure. Guidance on Funding Reviews can be found here https://artscouncil-ni.org/funding/funding-reviews . However, complaints from members of the general public – as opposed to applicants - regarding funding decisions will be dealt with under this Service Complaints procedure.
Complaints made in writing
All complaints must be submitted within 2 calendar months of the incident or occurrence of the issue about which you are complaining. Complaints should be addressed to the Complaints Administrator [email protected] who will acknowledge receipt within 2 working days and will log the correspondence as a formal complaint.
(A) If the complaint is about a direct Arts Council service:
Stage 1: The Complaints Administrator will pass the complaint to the Director of Operations, and a formal reply by the Director (or by the Operations Manager on the Director’s behalf) will be issued within 7 working days of receipt of the complaint from the Complaints Administrator.
We will ensure complaints are investigated thoroughly and fairly to establish the facts of the case, ensuring decisions are proportionate, appropriate and fair. Please note that complex complaints may take time to be thoroughly considered and this may impact the timing of our formal reply.
Stage 2: If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of Stage 1, you may ask the Complaints Administrator, in writing, for the Chief Executive to review the response. Your request will be acknowledged within 2 working days and you will receive a response from the Chief Executive within 10 working days.
Stage 3: If you are still dissatisfied with the outcome of the Stage 2 Review, you can contact the Ombudsman. Please see the final section of this page for further details.
(B) If the complaint is about a third party organisation/individual funded by the Arts Council
The Complaints Administrator will pass the complaint to the Director of Operations who will decide whether or not the complaint is a non-direct-service matter and so needs to passed to the relevant third party organisation (TPO) for action.
If the Director of Operations decides that your complaint is a matter relating to ACNI’s direct service, we will aim to issue a formal response to you within 7 working days.
- If the Director of Operations decides that this is a matter for the TPO to resolve then a copy of the letter of complaint will be forwarded to the TPO within 3 working days. The covering letter will ask the TPO to deal with the matter and reply directly to you, the original complainant. The Arts Council cannot dictate to another organisation the timeframe within which it should reply to complaints. However, if a copy of the reply is not received from the TPO within one month, the Complaints Administrator will issue a reminder. If the TPO fails to provide a copy of the reply following a reminder this will be brought to the attention of the Director of Operations who will contact the TPO directly to establish the position.
(C) Anonymous complaints
All written anonymous complaints will be logged as above. The Director of Operations will decide on the level of investigation into the complaint and the outcome will be recorded on file. The anonymous complaint will be acknowledged with a generalised response to any broad issue raised, where possible. However, specific allegations will not be addressed in the acknowledgment and no follow-up will be issued to an anonymous complainant.
(D) Vexatious complaints
The Arts Council’s default presumption will be that all complaints are made in good faith. However, if after consideration, it is our view that your correspondence is a vexatious complaint then we will inform you of this, advising that no further response will be issued. Your complaint will be logged and reported to the board.
We will consider a vexatious complaint as one that is unreasonable, frivolous, repetitive or abusive. Please note that if the tone or content of your complaint is so objectionable that it would be unreasonable to expect our staff to tolerate it, no matter how legitimate the purpose of your request or substantial the value of the requested information, the complaint will be deemed vexatious. This would be where threats or offensive language are used. (Please note that this is in keeping with our published service charter and ICO guidance.)
Complaints Reporting
A quarterly report will be provided to the Board of the Arts Council on the number of complaints received and their outcome within the period.
Continuous Improvement:
At the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, we consistently work towards seeking continuous improvement, as such, we will use your feedback to improve service design and delivery.
In the case that amendments to services, guidance and policies have been highlighted and can be adopted, you will be informed and thanked for your comments.
Informal Telephone Complaints
Informal complaints must be made within 2 calendar months of the incident or occurrence of the issue about which you are complaining. Complaints should be directed to the most appropriate member of staff connected with the subject of the complaint, eg the relevant Artform officer if the complaint is from or about a funded organisation; or, a member of the communications team if the complaint is about something that appeared in the press.
If you are unsure who to talk to, please refer to the staff list on our website.
The officer will try to resolve the issue immediately.
If you are not satisfied with the answer given by the officer the next step is to make a formal complaint in writing to the Complaints Administrator.
Please note that the Arts Council will only consider complaints made in writing as formal complaints. The Arts Council will not record remarks/complaints made by telephone, or on social media as complaints.
Ombudsman
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can contact the Ombudsman:
Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO), Progressive House, 33 Wellington Place, Belfast BT1 6HN
Freepost Freepost NIPSO
Telephone: 028 90233821
Free phone: 0800 34 34 24
Fax: 028 90234912
Text phone: 028 90897789
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.nipso.org.uk
You should be aware that the Ombudsman will normally not investigate a complaint which has not been through the above procedure.
Please note that once ACNI’s internal processes are complete, any subsequent complaint to the Ombudsman must be made within six months.