Complaints Procedure

The Council is committed to maintaining a high standard of service in carrying out its functions. However, if you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service or work, we would like to hear about it so that we can investigate your complaint and have the opportunity to put matters right.

Matters Outwith the Complaints Procedure

The following matters fall outwith the scope of the Council's complaints procedure and that of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman:

• if you are a registered teacher or applicant for registration whose case is being considered or heard within the Council's committee process and you wish to complain about a related matter, this is subject to the Council's appeals process as set out in the relevant rules and standing orders. See our Standards and Regulations.

• if you wish to submit a complaint against a registered teacher in relation to relevant misconduct, please see Making a Complaint.

Is there a time limit that applies to complaints?

We do not consider or investigate a complaint which relates to matters which happened more than 12 months before the complaint is made.

How do I make a complaint?

Download the Guide to the GTC Scotland Complaints Procedure (pdf) and the Complaints Form (pdf).

Stage One

If you have already been dealing with a member of staff or department in the Council's office, start by contacting that person or department and putting the problem to them. If you do not know who to contact, get in touch with customerservices@gtcs.org.uk who will advise accordingly.

Often complaints can be resolved immediately and informally in this way. However, if the matter cannot be resolved, or if you are not satisfied with the response at this stage, this leads to Stage Two of our procedure.

Stage Two

Contact the Director of Corporate and Legal Governance, who acts as our Complaints Officer (e-mail: complaints@gtcs.org.uk), and explain why you want your complaint looked at again.

At this point you will be asked to complete the Council's Complaints Form. The completed form should be submitted to the Complaints Officer. The Complaints Officer will aim to acknowledge receipt of your completed form within three working days.

The Complaints Officer will normally investigate and respond to your complaint. If however she is unable to do this for any reason, she will be entitled to appoint another manager to do so. The Complaints Officer or other manager will aim to send you a full response within twenty working days. If this is not going to be possible, then they will write to let you know what is happening and when you should receive a full response.
 

Stage Three

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of Stage Two, contact the Chief Executive at the Council's office to request a review of your complaint. The Chief Executive will aim to acknowledge your request for a review within three working days of receiving it.

If for any reason the Chief Executive is unable to review your complaint, he may appoint another appropriate person to carry this out. This would normally be a member of the Senior Management Team.

The Chief Executive or other person undertaking the review will aim to respond in full within twenty working days, giving details of what has been done and the results of their enquiries. If for some reason this is not possible within this timescale, they will let you know what is happening and when you may expect to receive a full response.

What if I am not satisfied with the response from the Council?

If you are not satisfied with the response to your complaint which you receive from the Council, once it has gone through all our internal stages, under the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002 you have the right to take up your complaint with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

How do I refer a complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman?

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman will look into your complaint if you believe that you have suffered injustice or hardship as a result of poor service, failure to provide a service, or administrative failure by the Council.

Matters which the Ombudsman is not entitled to look into include:

• properly made decisions which a public body has a right to make even if you do not agree with the decision
• appointments of staff, pay / discipline or other personnel matters
• contracts and other commercial transactions.

The Ombudsman will not normally investigate a complaint made more than 12 months after you found out about the matter to which your complaint relates.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman can be contacted as follows:

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
Freepost EH641
Edinburgh
EH3 0BR

Tel:0800 377 7330
Text:0790 049 4372
Fax:0800 377 7331
Email:ask@spso.org.uk
Website:www.spso.org.uk