Customer Complaints Policy

Background

The East of Scotland Investment Fund Ltd (ESIF) is a consortium of ten local authorities working together to provide loan finance to new and existing small and medium sized businesses within the east of Scotland. Businesses apply for loan finance to their respective local authority in the area in which they are based.

ESIF and the member local authorities are committed to providing an excellent service however we appreciate that things can and do go wrong. When this happens we encourage clients to tell us about it so we can aim to put things right. This also allows us to ensure that we continually improve our service provision.

What is a Complaint?

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction, whether oral or written, about ESIF’s failure to perform a function or provide a service in line with stated practices and policies. Complaints are not routine enquiries or requests about a service.

A complaint gives us the opportunity to:

  • put something right which has gone wrong
  • restore the service to the required standard
  • ensure that faults are acknowledged
  • prevent a recurrence of the failure

If a complaint is made against one of the Member Authorities acting as agent of the East of Scotland Investment Fund and not against the Fund itself the respective Member Authority’s customer complaints procedure should be followed in the first instance. Each Member Authority has procedures for responding to complaints. Details of the procedure are available from the respective Member Authority.

If the complaint is against the East of Scotland Investment Fund then the following Customer Complaints Procedure should be followed.

Principles of the Complaints Procedure

The complaints procedure is built upon the following principles:

  • Fairness
  • Openness
  • Integrity
  • Partnership
  • Transparency
  • Based on Legal Rights, Including Right of Appeal
  • Confidentiality - to protect all concerned

Taken together these principles create a system which is committed to continual service improvement, and which protects the interests of everyone concerned. It is based on your legal rights and the highest standards of public service. All complaints and concerns will be investigated and action taken as a result, wherever appropriate.

Making your Complaint

We believe it is important to receive feedback, in particular, when members of the public have concerns about the delivery of the service. When this happens the user should have easy access to an effective procedure to allow an early resolution of their complaint.

Stage 1 (informal)

The Loan Fund Officer of ESIF will deal with the complaint at this stage and attempt to resolve the problem. The Loan Fund Officer should be the first person to be advised of your concern. They should be given an opportunity to address the issues which are raised. All experience proves that the vast majority of complaints are best resolved informally, and at the point nearest delivery of the service.

Stage 2 (Loan Fund Officer)

If you remain dissatisfied, the complaint should be formalised by completing a complaints form or writing a letter. This will be acknowledged within 5 working days of receipt and will be dealt with by the Loan Fund Officer of ESIF. You will be informed of the outcome in writing. In general we will aim to provide a reply within 7 working days of receiving full details of the issues you raise.

Stage 3 (Corporate Working Group)

If the Loan Fund Officer is unable to resolve your complaint you can ask for the members of the Corporate Working Group (a Committee of the Board of ESIF) to review your complaint. A response from the CWG will be issued within 14 working days of receiving your request for a review.

Stage 4 (Chair, ESIF)

If the Corporate Working Group is unable to resolve your complaint you can ask for the Chair of the East of Scotland Investment Fund to review your complaint. A response from the Chair will be issued within 21 working days of receiving your request for a review.

Stage 5 (Ombudsman)

If you are dissatisfied with the Chair’s response or ESIF fail’s to respond in 8 weeks from receiving your complaint you have the right to complain to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. This is an independent organisation which will investigate your concerns.

Points of Contact

East of Scotland Investment Fund

Loan Fund Officer
East of Scotland Investment Fund Ltd
Robertson House
1 Whitefriars Crescent
Perth
PH2 0PA

Tel: 01738 448323
Fax: 01738 448311

Email: donna.menzies@eastscotinvest.co.uk

Web: www.eastscotinvest.co.uk

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

If, having completed ESIF’s complaints procedure you remain dissatisfied you have the right to complain to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will look into complaints about services provided by organisations like councils and public sector owned companies.

You can write to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman at;

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
4 Melville Street
Edinburgh
EH3 7NS

Tel: 0800 377 7330
Fax: 0800 377 7331

Email: ask@spso.org.uk
Web: www.spso.org.uk

Or

FREEPOST EH641
Edinburgh
EH3 0BR

Financial Ombudsman Service

If it has been over eight weeks since you contacted us, you can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into the matter for you. This is the free independent and impartial service for resolving disputes between Lenders and their customers.

The Financial Ombudsman Service will only be able to help once we have had the chance to explore all options, so please ensure that we have been given enough of an opportunity to resolve the matter first.

You can write to the Financial Ombudsman at;

Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wallj
London
E14 9SR

Tel: 0800 0 234 567
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Web: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Click here to download the Complaints Form