Learn more about Craft Scotland's formal complaints procedure.
Craft Scotland works with individuals, organisations and partners providing a range of services and support. If you are not satisfied with any aspect of our service, please tell us. We welcome complaints and feedback as this helps us make improvements to our services and ways of working or may identify a gap in our policies or procedures.
Anyone can make a complaint to us, including the representative of someone who is dissatisfied with our service. To make sure that all complaints are handled efficiently and fairly, there is a formal complaints procedure. Complaints will be treated seriously and in confidence.
What can I complain about?
You can make a complaint about things such as:
- Delay in responding to your enquiry
- Our standards of service
- The treatment by, or the attitude of, a team member
- Failure to follow proper procedures as outlined in our policies or opportunity guidelines (note: the latter will outline process for feedback on unsuccessful applications)
What can’t I complain about?
Whilst we regularly gather information and feedback from the sector about the level of support available to makers and other craft professionals, it is not always within our power or resources to resolve sector issues or implement new services. In this case, we collate information received to inform future formal approaches to stakeholders such as the Scottish Government or Creative Scotland.
What if I want to provide feedback but not make a formal complaint?
There are many occasions where an individual or organisation may want to ask questions or provide feedback to us but does not identify this feedback as a formal complaint.
We recommend that you provide feedback by:
- Contacting us by email at hello@craftscotland.org or by directly contacting any team member you feel comfortable approaching. Our emails are available on our website.
- Speaking directly to a member of our team in person or by phone/online meeting
- We also respond to questions via social media and will respond publicly or privately as appropriate.
We will respond to enquiries or feedback but as we are a small team occasionally, we may need more time for this than is outlined in our complaints processes.
Recording feedback and complaints
We keep a record of all complaints, and of other feedback we receive in the interests of continuous improvement. Where appropriate this is reported on to Board and team with notes on actions taken e.g. operational changes, policy updates.
Data will be held and processed by Craft Scotland in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.
Complaints review process
If you have a complaint, you should contact any member of the Senior Management Team:
- Irene Kernan, Director: irene@craftscotland.org
- Veronique AA Lapeyre, Head of Communications and Digital: veronique@craftscotland.org
They will aim to respond in full to your complaint within 4 weeks. Please clearly state in the email subject line ‘Complaint’.
If the issue is complicated this process may take longer but you will be kept informed of progress of your complaint.
If you are not happy with the response, you can request a review by the Chair of Craft Scotland by emailing chair@craftscotland.org. The Chair will aim to respond to the complaint within 4 weeks but will provide a timeline for their review and again, you will be kept informed of progress of your complaint.
Review by an independent arbiter
If your complaint is not upheld and you are not satisfied and want to progress further, you must write to the Chair within two calendar months from the date of receipt of response to the complaint. The Chair will appoint an appropriate independent arbiter who is separate from Craft Scotland. You will be notified accordingly.
The arbiter will be asked to review our handling of the complaint and whether the final decision was fair.
The full report of the independent arbiter will be sent to Craft Scotland and the arbiter will notify you of their decision. The arbiter’s decision is final.
Getting help to make Your complaint
We understand that you may be unable or reluctant to make a complaint yourself. We can accept complaints on your behalf from a representative, such as a friend, relative or advocate, if you have given them your consent to complain for you.
You can also find out about advocates in your area by contacting the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (Tel: 0131 260 5380 / Web: www.siaa.org.uk)
Access and alternative formats
We are committed to making our service easy to use and will always ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to help access and use our services. You can download alternative formats:
- Download the Complaint Guidance as a simplified word document
- Download the Complaint Guidance as a large print word document
