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If the complainant is not satisfied with the action taken, the complainant should notify the Chief Executive within 10 working days that they wish for an appeal to be heard by the Complaints Panel. The request should outline clearly the reason for the appeal. An appeal may not be appropriate where a panel of members has handled or decided the outcome of the complaint – in such circumstances the right of appeal would be made very clear as being open to the complainant as part of the decision from the panel. The panel has full discretion to withhold or not offer this right.
In order to preserve confidentiality, the Complaints Panel will normally deal with the complaint in private session and the complainant's details will not therefore be released publicly.
The Complaints Panel will review all the available written evidence, with the advice of the Chief Executive and either uphold the appeal, in full, in part or dismiss it completely. No further investigations will be requested or authorised.
In the event of any complaint being made against the Chief Executive, the same procedure will apply, except that the Chairman of the Governance and Resources (G&R) Committee will be substituted for the Chief Executive in the paragraph above. In this case, the Chairman of the G&R Committee could seek an external consultant's advice subject to discussion and agreement by the People Manager.
The decision of the Complaints Panel will be final.
In either case the complainant will be informed of the decision in writing within five working days of the date of the meeting of the Panel.
No appeal will be considered in relation to the operation of this Policy and there is no further appeal about the complaint to any other Panel, Sub Committee or Committee, or to the Town Council.
Any rights or protection under statute are not affected by this.