Complaints Process

As a charitable organisation, totally dependent on individuals and corporate bodies for our support, TASTE takes very seriously any complaint about the way in which we conduct ourselves.  We will investigate thoroughly any complaint and respond to the complainant either verbally or in writing, whichever is most appropriate.

In particular we will:

1.      1.   Acknowledge all complaints within 5 working days and seek to respond fully within 20 working days.  We will keep you informed if, for any reason, we are unable to meet our 20 day response target.

2.    Ensure that your complaint is dealt with in the most appropriate manner.  In the first instance, this is most likely to mean that our Chief Executive will deal with you.  However, if the complaint concerns our Chief Executive, the issue will be passed to one of our Trustees to investigate.

3.      Investigate fully all aspects of your complaint, giving you an opportunity to meet with the person dealing with your complaint and also with the subject of your complaint, if your complaint concerns the conduct of a member of our team.

4.       Give you a full and reasoned response.  In that response, you will be directed to the most appropriate TASTE official to whom you could take your concerns if you felt that they had not been satisfactorily dealt with.  In practice this will mean that a Trustee will receive any complaints that have been initially handled by our Chief Executive and our Chairman will receive any complaints that have initially been handled by a Trustee.

5.       Refer you to The Fundraising Standards Board, if your complaint is still unresolved and concerns a fundraising issue.  The FSB will deal with any complaint that concerns a breach of their Code of Practice or Fundraising Promise, provided they hear from you within two months of your complaint being handled by us.



If you need to contact us about a complaint, feel free to do so by telephone, e-mail, letter or face-to-face.  We promise to listen to you however you contact us.  Any member of our team will be able to hear what you have to say and start the ball rolling.

We sincerely hope that this complaints procedure will never be used.  But we recognise that we are only human and mistakes do happen.  We would encourage you to tell us when we make a mistake, even if you feel that an officially complaint is not warranted.  Unless you tell us, we might not realise what we have done!

Complaints Procedure
February 2010 

review date: February 2011