How to make a complaint

If you want to make a complaint about your contact with our staff, a grant application that you have made or a grant that we've awarded, use this guidance. It also explains circumstances our complaints process won't handle.

Making a complaint won't affect the service you receive from us. So, if your complaint is about a funding application, it won't affect your chances of getting a grant from us in the future.

If you have a complaint about our Welsh language service, there's a separate process. Visit this page to find out more about our Welsh language standards or call 0300 123 0735.

You can complain if you believe that:

• maladministration (the failure to properly carry out our duties and responsibilities) has taken place. For example, if we've delayed, made mistakes in, or failed to follow the procedures in our application process
• we've failed to give you access to information or given you incorrect advice or information
• we've not treated you politely
• we've discriminated against you or not treated you fairly.

If your complaint is about a funding application, we can only review the application again if:

• we discover that we didn't follow the published procedures for assessing your application
• you can show that we have misunderstood a significant part of your application
• you can show that we didn't take notice of relevant information.

A rejected application

You may be disappointed if we turn down your application for funding. However, you can't use the complaints procedure to appeal against our decision if we've followed our decision-making process correctly.

The National Lottery Community Fund or government policy

You can't complain about our published policies or any government policy through this process. If you have any comments about our policies, email our customer service team or call 0345 410 2030.

Fraud

If you believe fraud has taken place, don't use this complaints procedure to report it. Instead, contact the police or our internal audit department. To raise your concerns with us, email our audit team or call 0800 496 9991.

Complaints outside our grant-making process

You can't use this complaints process for any interaction with us outside of our grant-making processes. Email our customer service team or call 0345 410 2030, and we'll pass it on to the right department for you.

There are three stages to making a complaint:

• Stage One: Tell us what happened
• Stage Two: Raise the complaint with our Chief Executive
• Stage Three: Get an independent review from another organisation

We hope your complaint is solved in the first stage. However, if you aren't happy with our first response, we will advise and guide you through Stage Two and, if needed, Stage Three.

Stage One: Tell us what happened

If you want to complain about the service you received, contact the office you first dealt with as soon as possible to tell us what happened. If you no longer have the relevant contact details, email our customer service team or call 0345 410 2030.

You can also write to:

Customer Services
The National Lottery Community Fund
Society Building
Regents Wharf
8 All Saints Street
London
N1 9RL

When making your complaint, set out the facts as clearly as possible in a logical order. Remember to include important details and dates where possible.

If you need any help, you can contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau. Visit their website to find your local bureau or call 0300 023 1231.

If you raise a complaint, it will be confidential and we will treat you with respect. We expect you to treat our staff in the same way.

We aim to settle complaints quickly and, if possible, put things right.

When will I hear something back?

We'll confirm receipt of your complaint within three working days. We'll also tell you how you can contact the person dealing with your complaint and when to expect a reply.

You'll receive a final response to your complaint within 10 working days. If we can't give a full response in this time, we'll tell you why and when you are likely to receive it.

Stage 2: Raise the complaint with our Chief Executive

If you're not satisfied with the response you get in the first stage of this process, you can email our Chief Executive, or write to them at:

Chief Executive
The National Lottery Community Fund
Society Building
Regents Wharf
8 All Saints Street
London
N1 9RL

In your email or letter, tell us:

• what happened
• when it happened
• who dealt with you
• what you would like us to do to put things right.

You must do this within four weeks of receiving our response to your complaint.

If you can't make your complaint in writing, call us on 0345 410 2030.

Stage 3: Get an independent review from another organisation

If you're not satisfied with our Chief Executive’s reply, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Independent Complaints Reviewer (ICR). We'll let you know if this option is open to you, or if another regulatory body, such as the Information Commissioners Office, would be more appropriate in handling your complaint.

If the ICR is the best next step, we'll help you contact them to review your complaint.

Who is the ICR?

The ICR:

• is an independent organisation that reviews complaints that can't be resolved internally
• does investigations to understand each side of the complaint
• gives independent and unbiased recommendations
• provides this service for free.

What's their process?

If you want the ICR to consider your complaint, contact us within four weeks of receiving our Chief Executive’s reply. We'll help you raise the complaint with them, or ask our Chief Executive to do this to start the process.

When they receive the complaint, the ICR will assess and tell you whether they will do an investigation. It's within their power to decide not to, and they will give you their reasons why. They will also not consider the complaint until it's gone through our complaints process first.

If the ICR believes your complaint is justified, they will:

• begin an impartial investigation, taking both sides into account
• provide a report of their findings within three months, usually sooner
• if the complaint is justified, provide recommendations for what to do and how to avoid a similar complaint in the future.

We will review these recommendations and normally make changes as soon as possible. However, the ICF cannot suggest changes or provide comments relating to our funding decisions, our legal responsibilities, and our policies on awarding grants.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (England, Northern Ireland and Wales)

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s role is to review complaints that public bodies have not acted properly or have provided a poor service. They also offer this service for free.

By law, the Ombudsman is independent of the government and the Civil Service, and has wide powers to investigate. The Ombudsman don't normally investigate complaints if:

• they haven't been through our complaints procedures first
• it's been more than one year since you became aware of the cause of your complaint.

The Ombudsman can only consider cases that are referred to them by a Member of Parliament (MP). So, you'll need to speak to your MP to raise your concern.

To contact the Ombudsman’s service, call 0345 015 4033 or write to:

Citygate
Mosley Street
Manchester
M2 3HQ

You can also find out more at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman website.

Judicial review

A judicial review is where a judge examines your complaint to see whether we have
behaved illegally.

The judge cannot rule that we must change a funding decision, but they can
ask us to reconsider our decision.

Public Enquiry Service

If you want to comment on any government policy on Lottery distribution, email the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport or write to:

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
100 Parliament Street
London
SW1A 2BQ

You can also find out more at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport website.

If you use our complaints procedure, you are agreeing that we can use any personal information you send us for purposes connected with your complaint. We may also give your personal information to other people and organisations if we have to do so by law or if you have given us permission.

Equal opportunities

We are committed to equal opportunities and take complaints about discrimination seriously. We may use complaints about discrimination to review our policies and procedures. This is to make sure we treat everyone equally.

We keep all information confidential.

If you have any particular communication needs, or need information in other languages or in another format, email our customer service team or call 0345 410 2030.

If you use Relay UK's text relay service, dial '18001' before dialling our number.