The Adoption Support Agencies (England) and Adoption Agencies (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2005

Complaints

16.—(1) The registered person shall establish a written procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of any person to whom the agency has provided adoption support services or to whom the agency has refused to provide adoption support services (“complaints procedure”).

(2) The complaints procedure shall provide in particular—

(a) for an opportunity for informal resolution of a complaint at an early stage;

(b) that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes part in its consideration other than, if the registered person considers it appropriate, at the informal resolution stage only;

(c) for dealing with complaints about the registered person or responsible individual; and

(d) in the case of an agency providing adoption support services to children, for complaints to be made by a person acting on behalf of a child.

(3) The registered person shall provide a copy of the complaints procedure to every person working for the purposes of the agency and shall provide, upon request, a copy of the procedure to any person mentioned in paragraph (1) or any person acting on behalf of a child.

(4) The copy of the complaints procedure supplied under paragraph (3) shall include—

(a) the name, address and telephone number of the registration authority; and

(b) details of the procedure (if any) which has been notified to the registered person by the registration authority for the making of complaints to the registration authority that relate to the agency.