Complaints Policy

Approach to complaints 

The Bikeability Trust is committed to dealing effectively with any complaints you may have about our service or that of the Bikeability programme service providers.  

We take your complaints seriously and try to learn from any mistakes made by ourselves or within the industry to improve our services.  

All complaints are reviewed by our Executive Team and Trustees at a quarterly Trustee meeting. We also produce an annual thematic complaint report for Trustees, which outlines the nature of complaints and recommendations for improvement.  

Formal complaints are reported monthly via our corporate reporting framework and informal complaints annually via our grant recipient/training provider renewal process.  

All complaints will be thoroughly and objectively investigated.  

If you need to blow the whistle and don’t feel comfortable coming direct to the Bikeability Trust, whether we are your employer or not, there is a whistleblowing list of prescribed bodies and people you can go to on gov.uk here. 

How to contact The Bikeability Trust  

You can make a complaint to The Bikeability Trust in any of the following ways:  

• Email us at contactus@bikeability.org.uk   
• Write to us at the following address: The Bikeability Trust, PO Box 1494, Cambridge, CB22 3YT 

• Call us on 01223 606027. 

Complaints Process 

Complaints should be made within 3 months of the event or outcome that you are complaining about. 

Complaints Procedure 

Stage 1 complaint (informal) 

Bikeability is delivered by local training providers who are registered with the Trust and funded through grant recipients (usually a local council). 

If you would like to make a complaint about any aspect of the Bikeability programme, in the first instance, please contact your local training provider/grant recipient to deal with this directly as a Stage 1 informal complaint. Please check the consent or booking form you received for their contact details. 

If you are unable to locate the contact details, please email the following information, as applicable, to contactus@bikeability.org.uk.  

• Your name (and child’s name), address, telephone number and email address. Please state your preferred method of communication. 
• The name of the school/address where the training took place 
• The date and time of training/incident 
• Details of your complaint outlining your specific concerns starting with the most important concern first. 

The complaint will be investigated by the relevant grant recipient who will work with the local training provider. The complaint will be investigated under the grant recipient/training provider’s own complaints procedure in accordance with their complaint policy. As part of the registration process to deliver Bikeability, the Trust review all complaints policies to ensure they meet required standards.  

The grant recipient will respond to you directly regarding the investigation findings and outcomes. If you are unhappy with the outcome of the Stage 1 investigation you can request for your complaint to be investigated formally as a Stage 2 complaint.  

Stage 2 complaint (formal)  

To make a formal Stage 2 complaint you will need to contact us and, where possible, provide us with the following information so we can conduct our investigation into your complaint without unnecessary delay.  

What you should include in your complaint    

• Please provide your name and contact details (email, postal address, contact number) and whether you are acting on behalf of someone else. If you are making a complaint on behalf of somebody else, we will need their written agreement. 
• Briefly describe what your complaint is about stating relevant dates and times, if applicable. 
• Please provide details of the Stage 1 complaint and the reasons for the escalation to Stage 2. 
• List your specific concerns starting with the most important concern.  
• Be clear about what you are hoping to achieve (for example an apology, explanation, etc.)  

• State your preferred method of communication and if you have any specific requirements for example, if you have language difficulties. 
• Where applicable, please provide any evidence that may assist the complaints investigation. 
• We understand making a complaint can sometimes be difficult, therefore please let us know if you need any further support. 

Upon receipt of a Stage 2 complaint, we will formally acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and let you know how we intend to deal with it. 

The Operations Manager/Officer at the Bikeability Trust will investigate your complaint. The investigation may require us contacting the complainant, grant recipient, training provider, school where delivery took place and any named witnesses. You may also be contacted for further information or evidence as the investigation progresses. 

Once the investigation is completed the investigation outcomes will be sent to all relevant parties within 28 working days of receipt of the initial complaint. 

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the Stage 2 investigation you can make a Stage 3 complaint investigation which will be conducted by the Director of Operations/Chief Executive at The Bikeability Trust.  

Stage 3 complaint (formal) 

To make a stage 3 complaint you will need to contact us outlining why you are not satisfied with outcome of the previous investigations into your complaint. 

The Director of Operations will review the details of your complaint, all relevant evidence and how the complaint investigation has been carried out. The Chief Executive, Executive Team and Trustees will be informed of the complaint and investigation outcomes. 

Once the investigation is completed the findings and outcomes will be sent to all parties within 28 working days of receipt of the initial complaint. 

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the Stage 3 investigation you can appeal to Active Travel England. Active Travel England will respond in accordance with their own complaints policy and procedures. 

Appeal Process 

If you are not happy with the outcome of the Stage 3 complaint investigation you can appeal to Active Travel England. Guidance to the Active Travel England complaint procedures can be found here.

Complaints about Bikeability Industry from Bikeability Professionals  

If possible, we believe it is best to deal with things as soon as possible and in the easiest and most direct way. If you have a complaint, we recommend you raise it directly with the person/organisation concerned as a Stage 1 informal complaint. 

If they are unable to resolve your complaint, you can ask for your complaint to be formally investigated following the complaint process outlined in this policy.  

Complaints about the Bikeability Trust 

Bikeability Trust staff are provided with the appropriate skills and resources to deal with a complaint and have a full understanding of the complaints policy and procedures as these are included as part of the Trusts’ standard induction process. 

When we receive a complaint about The Bikeability Trust, we will: 

• acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days informing you of the name of the person who we have forwarded your complaint to for investigation. 
• set out to you our understanding of your complaint and ask you to confirm that we have got it right. 
• ask you to tell us what outcome you are hoping for. 

• aim to resolve complaints as quickly as possible. We expect to deal with most complaints within 28 working days. However, if your complaint is more complex, we will let you know within this time why we think it may take longer to investigate, tell you how long we expect it to take and give you regular updates every 10 working days on any progress made. 
• deal with your complaint in an open and honest way. 
• let you know the outcome of our investigation and explain how and why we came to our conclusions. 
• communicate with you in keeping with your preferred form of communication. If necessary, we will produce a report. 
• ensure your interactions with us in the future do not suffer just because you have made a complaint. 

• feedback any lessons to learn from addressing your complaint to the Executive Team. 

If we find that we got it wrong, we will tell you what happened and why and will always apologise.  

If we find there is a fault in our systems or the way we do things, we will tell you what it is and how we plan to change things to stop it happening again.  

We find that most complaints are satisfactorily resolved informally at Stage 1, however if the member of staff is unable to resolve your complaint, you can ask for your complaint to be formally investigated following the complaint process outlined in this policy. 

If we do not succeed in resolving your complaint, you may make a complaint to Active Travel England: Complaints procedure – Active Travel England. 

Anonymous complaints  

Anonymous complaints will be considered where there is sufficient information provided to enable the case to be investigated.  

Where there is not sufficient information provided, we may decide to take no further action but will record the complaint in case it becomes clear that action is required at a later date. 

Associated Policies and Procedures  

If we believe your complaint would be better investigated under a different policy, for example our Safeguarding or Serious Incident policy we will arrange for you to receive a copy of the policy and ensure you are clear on the related procedures. You can also request a copy of our policies.  

We ensure the Bikeability programme is delivered to quality standards via our quality assurance programme. All complaints, whether upheld or not, may result in the Bikeability Trust recommending the training provider receives an EQA (External Quality Assurance) visit External Quality Assessment (EQA) – Ensuring your quality | Bikeability 

Our code of practice is a guide to the standards required for the conduct and integrity of Bikeability instructors who are working for registered Bikeability training providers. Code of Practice for Bikeability Instructors Guidance 

What we expect from complainants  

In times of trouble or distress, some people may act out of character. There may have been upsetting or distressing circumstances leading up to a complaint. We do not view behaviour as unacceptable just because someone is forceful or determined. We believe that all complainants have the right to be heard, understood, and respected.

However, we also consider that our staff have the same rights. We, therefore, expect complainants to be polite and courteous when dealing with us. We will not tolerate aggressive or abusive behaviour, unreasonable demands, or unreasonable persistence. If a complaint made is vexatious (i.e., malicious, or voluminous requests from a person over a period of time that is causing a burden on the Trust’s resources) we reserve the right to not progress the complaint to the next stage.

If you are the subject of a complaint (complainee) 

We understand that receiving a complaint about you or your organisation can be worrying and upsetting. We always try to make sure complaints are resolved as soon as possible and in the easiest and most direct way for all involved. 

If you are dissatisfied with a Stage 2 complaint investigation outcome, you can raise your concerns with our Director of Operations/Chief Executive or with Active Travel England directly.