Corporate Information

Academi Complaints Procedure

Complaints

The procedures in this section provide for Academi to respond appropriately to complaints.

Making a complaint will not affect your chances of getting financial support from us and will not affect the level of service you receive.

What constitutes a complaint?

In terms of definition, we will regard a complaint as an approach in writing, including email, or telephone from anyone outlining a breakdown in the service provided by Academi. The complaint could relate to poor or unsatisfactory customer service, the conduct of an employee or Board/Committee member, or a significant misunderstanding or misinterpretation of information.

The following circumstances will not be treated as a complaint:

• Policy grievances relating to Academi and/or Arts Council or government policy. If you have any comments about our policies, send these to our Chief Executive at the address provided in the ‘Getting in touch’ section below.
• Complaints against funding decisions based on for example, the artistic merit of an application. However, if your complaint is about a procedural unfairness in relation to a funding decision, this will be considered.

Procedure

Academi has adopted the following 4-stage process:

Formal complaints should be submitted within 3 months of the action or decision to which the complaint refers. In each instance you will be asked to provide the following information:

• Briefly, what the complaint is about
• When it happened
• Who originally dealt with the matter
• What you would like to happen to put things right

You should set out the facts as clearly as possible, in a logical order.
Remember to include important details and dates where possible.

Stage 1: Initial Complaint

• At the initial stage, please contact the person you initially dealt with at Academi. They may be able to provide you with an immediate explanation/apology. If this is not possible or you are still not satisfied, that person will offer to send you this Complaints Procedure.
• We will record and log your complaint to ensure consistency should it be taken further and will continue to do so throughout the necessary complaints procedure.

Stage 2: Formal Complaint

• If you are not satisfied with our explanation/apology at Stage 1, you may wish to move your complaint onto Stage 2 of the complaints process.
• This takes the form of a formal written complaint to the Chief Executive. The complaint can be made via email or letter. Complaints should be clearly marked ‘confidential’.
• Receipt of the complaint should be acknowledged within 3 working days and a full response issued as soon as possible from receipt.
• In the case of complaints against employees of Academi, the Chief Executive will investigate the complaint and if necessary, will take action in accordance with Academi’s Disciplinary Policy. You may be asked to participate in the process.
• In the case of complaints against members of Academi’s Management Board or Committees, the Chief Executive will investigate the complaint and inform the Chairman of the Management Board of the outcome. The Chairman will decide what action to take.

Stage 3: Academi Management Board

• If the facts of the complaint are in dispute, it may be appropriate for the Chief Executive to seek further information from you. If the complaint is directly relating to the Chief Executive, the Chairman will seek this information in his/her place. If in light of the information available to him/her, the Chief Executive concludes that there is sufficient substance in the complaint for it to be investigated further, the following action will be taken:

1. In the case of complaints against employees, the Chief Executive will take action in accordance with Stage 2. If this procedure doesn’t result in a satisfactory conclusion, the Chief Executive will consult the Chairman of the Board who will then decide what further action to take.
2. In the case of complaints against members of the Management Board or Committees, the matter will be referred to the Chairman for him/her to take appropriate action with the member concerned.

Stage 4: The Arts Council of Wales

• If the Chairman of the Management Board is not able to sufficiently resolve the complaint, the matter will be passed to the Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Wales. This will only happen if all the other 3 previous stages of the procedure have been exhausted.  He/she will decide what action is appropriate.
• In all cases, your complaint and outcome will be recorded and logged to ensure continuity if the process is taken further and you will be informed of the outcome of the complaint as soon as possible.

Getting in touch with us

If you wish to make a general enquiry about making a complaint, please contact:

Chief Executive: Peter Finch
Academi
Mount Stuart House
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff
CF10 5FQ

Tel: 029 2047 2266
Fax: 029 2049 2930
E-mail: post@academi.org
Website: www.academi.org

Other useful contacts

Independent Complaints Reviewer
c/o Lottery Forum
PO BOX 52727
London
EC4P 4WN

Tel: 020 7211 3823

Public Services Ombudsman For Wales
1 Ffordd yr Hen Gae
Pencoed
CF35 5LJ