Designing complaint forms

Online and paper complaint forms are an effective way of capturing complaints. These are more effective than asking people to submit complaints in an unstructured way. Using forms to capture complaints also supports front line staff to ask members of the public relevant questions to ensure their concerns are captured accurately.

It can be upsetting for some complainants to relive their complaints repeatedly throughout the complaints process. Supporting the public to express their concerns in a structured way will help organisations understand what their complaint is about. This minimises the risk of distressing complainants by forcing them to repeatedly revisit events complained of.

Capturing important information up front also supports organisations to take a proportionate approach to complaint handling.  Organisations should also try to understand how the complainant and others feel have been affected to decide whether they are someone who can complain as well as the level of resource required to respond appropriately.

We have suggested some prompts below that could be included in complaint forms to support complainants to express their concerns.

1. Please tell us what has gone wrong
2. Please tell us how this has affected you or others
3. Please tell us what you would like us to do

Organisations may wish to set a limit on the number of characters available to complainants to encourage them to set out their concerns concisely. However, organisations should also ensure complainants can submit further information to support their complaints, especially those who may have difficulty expressing their concerns in a concise manner because of a disability.

Complaint forms should also ask complainants which service they are complaining about. This will help organisations to process complaints quickly, especially where services are responsible for responding to complaints, and identify complaints about more than one service.

It is also helpful to include information on websites and complaint forms advising complainant that they should tell the service about any problems before raising a complaint. We have included some suggested wording below.

Suggested wording for webpages relating to complaints

Before making a complaint you should ensure you have given us an opportunity to resolve the issue you are raising. You should contact the relevant service first. You can find details of our services on our website [include a hyperlink]. If the service is not able to resolve the issues you can make a complaint.

The complaints process looks at how we have delivered services or reached decisions. Requests for help with problems in your local area should be directed to the relevant service first.

Suggested wording for online and paper complaint forms

Have you raised your concerns with the service you are complaining about first? You should give us an opportunity to resolve the issues you are raising before making a complaint. You can find details of our services on our website [include a hyperlink]

The complaints process looks at how we have delivered services or reached decisions. Requests for help with problems in your local area should be directed to the relevant service first.