Feedback and complaints 

The Heart of England Forest always wants to provide an excellent service and exceed your expectations in its aims. To enable us to do this we want to listen to our supporters and stakeholders and address feedback given to improve the work we are doing and build relationships with everyone we engage with and on who we depend.

While we love to hear your enjoyment and enthusiasm for the Forest, we do also want to find out about things if they go wrong so we can do our best to explain and if appropriate correct the situation and put measures in place if applicable to prevent it happening again. We view a complaint as an opportunity to learn and improve for the future.

There are many ways available for you to engage with us, whether face-to-face at Forest events, during a visit, or though the usual communication channels of email, phone, mail and social media. We welcome feedback by whichever means you choose to reach out to us but would suggest email contact to info@heartofenglandforest.org as the most efficient way of getting your message to the right team member to assist.

Some feedback requires a more formal response and the followings explain how we do that.
 

What is a complaint and what is a comment?

When we receive comments, which include suggestions, or remarks of encouragement or concerns, while we will normally reply, the response is not part of a formal process. 

A complaint is a formal claim that the Heart of England Forest has failed to meet an organisational commitment, a relevant code of practice, law or a regulation. We take complaints very seriously and treat them as an opportunity to learn and develop as an organisation.

Processing Feedback

We listen carefully to the feedback you give us and will treat it with courtesy and respect and it will be handled in an appropriate timescale*. The Heart of England Forest expects all feedback to be provided fairly and appropriately and we aim to provide a response within 12 working days.

Any feedback that we receive anonymously will be taken notice of and used as an opportunity to learn. We cannot however respond to anonymous feedback.

We many choose not to respond to feedback that:

  • Is abusive, prejudiced, offensive or harasses a member of staff or a volunteer;
  • Is repeatedly stated in a manner not conducive to resolution;
  • Concerns something that the Heart of England Forest has no direct connection to: we may choose to respond to clear our name but we are not obliged to; 
  • Is incoherent or illegible; 
  • Has clearly been sent to the Heart of England Forest and a number of other organisations as part of a bulk communication: in such cases we will choose whether or not it is necessary to reply; 
  • Unreasonably pursues a complaint that we have already responded to or pursues a line of enquiry to the point it becomes vexatious. If we choose not to reply again, we will inform you of this decision. 


*There are defined timescales for complaints made directly to certain regulatory bodies, including the Fundraising Regulator and the Information Commissioner’s Office.
 

How to contact us with a formal complaint

As identified, a complaint is a formal claim that the Heart of England Forest has failed to meet an organisational commitment, a relevant code of practice, law or a regulation.

Since investigating a complaint makes use of the Heart of England Forest’s limited resources, we expect the person making the complaint to: 

  • Provide sufficient information for us to be able to understand the complaint, its cause,  and a potential resolution, being clear as to the substance of the complaint; 
  • Be willing to be contacted and engage in the complaints process if necessary; 
  • Understand that making a complaint triggers a more formal process than a comment. 

If you wish to make a complaint to the Heart of England Forest, please contact us in writing in one of the following ways:

Website: heartofenglandforest.org/contact-us
Email: info@heartofenglandforest.org

When submitting by email, please include the phrase “Formal Complaint” in the subject line.

Post:
The Heart of England Forest
Colletts Farm
Dorsington 
Stratford-upon-Avon
Warwickshire
CV37 8AU

While we will normally respond to you via the same method you choose to use to contact us, we find that the best way to resolve a problem speedily is by email, so we receive a written account in your own words, containing:

  • The facts of your complaint
  • Your name, home address, email address and phone number 
  • Your relationship with the Heart of England Forest (visitor, Friend of the Forest, neighbour, supplier, etc) 
  • If it refers to a specific place or area in the Forest please include a marked up map/satellite image or a GPS/what3word reference to allow us to easily recognise the location/s referred to. (www.what3words.com is a free and simple way to identify a location with no address)

When contacting us, please feel free to let us know how you think the matter could be resolved: your ideas and suggestions are always very helpful to us. 

How we will handle your complaint

We will acknowledge and provide an initial response to your feedback within 12 working days of receiving it. Whilst we expect to be able to resolve most complaints within that timeframe, should we need to carry out a more in-depth investigation, we will aim to provide you with a full response within a further 30 working days. If we are unable to meet that deadline due to exceptional circumstances, we will of course let you know.

We will do all we can to address your concerns, resolve a problem or mistake. The complaint may require multiple members of the team to investigate and therefore the complaint information will be shared with the team member/s best placed in the organisation to provide a response.

We will keep a record of the complaint in order to: 

  • Monitor the progress of the complaint
  • Provide evidence that the complaint was considered, and the information about the outcome
  • Identify trends or recurring themes
  • Compile reports, including statistical data for our regulators. 
If you are not satisfied 

We will always do our best to ensure that any person making a complaint is satisfied with the way we handle it. However, the charity’s decision is final.

If your complaint relates to fundraising and you feel it remains unresolved then the Fundraising Regulator, an independent body responsible for facilitating an unbiased and considered judgement, can investigate your complaint. Please refer to our Fundraising Complaints Policy for further details.