How to complain about the service you get from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority.

Our complaints process is there to help if you are not satisfied with the service you have received. We understand there may be times where our service does not meet your expectations and we would like to hear from you to help resolve your concerns.

We are committed to:

• handling complaints sensitively
• responding quickly
• explaining our decisions and keeping you informed

How to make a complaint

You can make a complaint by:

• completing our online complaint form
• calling us on 0141 726 2397
• emailing complaints@ibca.org.uk

What is a complaint?

A complaint is when you tell us you are unhappy with our service. This could be because:

• we took too long to respond or provided incorrect information
• we have mishandled your personal information.

Some concerns are out of our control. We cannot handle complaints about:

• other Infected Blood Support Schemes and Organisations
• correspondence from other organisations or government departments
• compensation offers, eligibility for the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme or to whom a payment of compensation has been made

The complaints process

1. Registering your complaint

You will need to register your complaint online, by phone or email.

Please tell us:

• your full name and preferred contact method
• what your complaint is about
• how you would like to put things right

2. Acknowledgement

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 5 working days. You will be assigned a named contact who will work with you to understand and help resolve your complaint. We will communicate with you through your preferred method of contact.

3. Review and resolution

We may contact you for more details so we can fully understand your concerns. Our review process takes up to 15 working days from when we confirm receipt of your complaint.

Our Claimant Support and Resolution Team is independent from Claim Managers. If your complaint relates to a staff member’s behaviour, it will be escalated to their senior manager.

We take all complaints seriously. Once our review is complete, we will send you a detailed response outlining our findings and any actions we will take. If we need more time, we will let you know.

Once our review is complete, we will provide you with a detailed response, outlining the findings and any actions we will take to address the issue. You will receive this response via your preferred method of contact.

There may be occasions when we are unable to finalise our response within 15 working days. If this is the case, we will let you know and explain the reasons why.

4. Escalation

If you are not happy with how we have answered your complaint, you have the option to escalate your complaint further.

• Stage 2: your complaint will be managed by the Senior Service, Contact and Resolution Lead.
• Stage 3: your complaint will be managed by the Head of Claimant Support and Resolution.

At each of the 3 stages all of the steps above will be followed. This includes us aiming to resolve your escalated complaint within 15 working days from the point of escalation.

5. External review

If you are still not satisfied after stage 3, you can ask for an external review.

If you live in England or Wales

You will be asked to contact your local Member of Parliament who may then contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on your behalf.

If you live in Scotland

You will be signposted to contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman directly.

If you live in Northern Ireland

You will be signposted to the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman.

You must complete our internal complaints process before requesting an external review.

Confidentiality and data protection

Privacy assurance

We understand how important your data is to you. We are committed to ensuring its protection throughout the complaints process. All personal data provided in your complaint will be handled in accordance with UK GDPR. You can read our Privacy Notice to understand the purposes for which personal data are collected and used, how the data are used and disclosed, how long it is kept, and the controller's legal basis for processing.

Confidentiality

We will ensure that your complaint is treated with the utmost confidentiality, and we will only share information with those directly involved in resolving your complaint.

Future communications and your application

Your complaint will be dealt with entirely separately from any future communications or your application to the IBCA compensation scheme. It will not affect your claim in any way.