Preventing unreasonable actions

In most cases unreasonable actions can be prevented by ensuring people can access services and the information they need easily. Organisations should ensure information about their services can be accessed in a range of different ways and that they provide a range of channels for people to use to contact them.

An organisation’s initial interaction with a complainant is probably one of the most important contacts. The way you begin this interaction can significantly affect how the complainant interacts with you subsequently. A complainant, who feels that they have been listened to, understood, treated fairly and with respect and who has been given a thorough explanation of the complaints process and what is likely to happen with their complaint is more likely to respond positively to you, your organisation and the complaints process than if they were not given this information.

This is supported by the “My Expectations” report published in 2014. This sets out what people expect from a complaints system when raising concerns. Although based on research in health and care services the findings are applicable to people’s expectations of complaint handling in other areas of public service delivery.

Unreasonable actions can also be an indication of an unmet communication or support need. Not all disabilities are visible and therefore  organisations should ask everyone who contacts their service whether they need to make any changes to how they deliver their service, such as the way they communicate with them. This allows individuals an opportunity to tell them if they need any reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.

Where an individual’s actions are considered unreasonable, it may be appropriate to speak with other teams, departments and external bodies (e.g. mental health services) involved to share information for the purposes of safeguarding their welfare and exploring other ways in which they can be supported through inter or cross-organisational working.

Staff members should be empowered to warn individuals of the consequences of their actions in the first instance. This may help the complainant to reflect on their actions and provide an opportunity for them to modify it. Staff members should also be able to take immediate action in response to unreasonable actions such as terminating phone calls, asking someone to leave the premises or pausing communications. Any immediate steps should be followed by either an informal warning about future conduct or consideration of further action under the organisation’s unreasonable actions policy.