Complaint about Victim Support

We aim to give everyone who uses our services the best possible help. For us to achieve this, we need to know if things have gone wrong. Complaints will help us identify problems and put them right, so we welcome your views.

Most complaints can be dealt with informally by talking to a local manager. They will listen to your views, make a record of what happened and make appropriate changes where possible.

If you feel that your concern cannot be dealt with in this way, we also have a formal complaints procedure. A senior local manager will carry out a detailed investigation and meet the person or team that you have raised a concern about.

Whatever you decide:

  • We are happy to talk to you about what has happened.
  • We will always make sure that your complaint or concern is treated confidentially.
  • You can tell us everything that happened.
  • Your complaint will never be dealt with by the person who is the subject of your concern. It will always be handled by a senior manager who has not been involved previously.
  • We will get back to you in a set timescale so that you always know what’s happening and can feel sure that we are treating your concern or complaint seriously.
  • You will get an open and fair response.
  • You will always be treated with respect, and we’ll do all that we can to help find a way forward.

How to complain about a service you've received from Victim Support

If you want to make a complaint about our services or activities, there are several ways you can do this:

  • In writing to your local Victim Support office or to this address: Complaints Department, Building 3, Eastern Business Park Wern Fawr Lane, Old St. Mellons, Cardiff, Wales, CF3 5EA
  • By completing this online form.
  • By phone either to your local office or 020 7268 0200. We will put you in contact with a local senior manager who will investigate what has happened.
  • You can ask someone to help you make a complaint and to act on your behalf if you want.

  • We will contact you to tell you that we have your complaint within three working days of receipt.
  • We will let you know if we need to get in touch with you, so it’s important to give us all your contact details, including the county/city where you live and the best way to reach you.
  • We will get back to you in an agreed time to let you know the outcome.
  • We aim to finish our investigation within 30 working days of receipt and will then contact you in writing.
  • If your complaint includes a data protection issue, it may take longer than 30 working days to provide a full response. Some cases may take longer to investigate. We will keep you updated and provide a full response within three months.
  • We will explain the result of our discussions or investigation and let you know our findings and if required, what we’ll do to improve our services going forward.

Appeals

For service quality complaints

  • If you’re not happy with the result of a complaint you can ask for the decision and process to be looked at again through our appeals process.

For data protection complaints

  • For data protection complaints, there is no internal right of appeal. If you are unhappy with the outcome, you can raise your concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

 Service quality complaints

  • You can contact us in the same way as before to let us know that you want to appeal the decision.
  • A member of our senior management team will then look into your complaint and how it was managed to ensure that the process and decisions were fair.
  • Decisions made on appeals are final.

Data protection complaints

You can escalate the outcome of your data protection complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office in writing to:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Visit the ICO website to escalate your complaint by visiting the following link: https://ico.org.uk.

You can ask to see the information Victim Support holds about you. If you want to do this you should write to your local Victim Support office.

Downloads

Your feedback and complaints leaflet [PDF] 240KB

Complaint about other services

How to make a complaint about other services as a victim of crime.