Your feedback

We welcome constructive feedback to help improve our working practices.

The key role of the staff in the Diocesan Office is to support the bishops, clergy, parishes and schools in their mission and ministry. We aim to be efficient, accurate and timely, and to treat everyone professionally, with dignity and respect.

If something has gone particularly well, we would love to know - please do contact the relevant Team Leader.

We also recognise that sometimes, things do go wrong, and we welcome constructive feedback to improve our working practices.

If you have a complaint 

Our complaints procedures offers a clear, concise and easy to understand mechanism for anyone outside of the diocesan office wishing to make a complaint. 

Below we outline the two stages, or you can read the procedure in full here - Complaints Procedure

Stage 1 - Informal Stage

We would encourage you to initially raise your concerns with the relevant Team Leader.

You may find that raising your complaint under the informal stage is a sufficient and effective way to resolve your concerns.

This is particularly as the timescales involved are normally shorter and the method provides the opportunity for direct open discussion with the Team Leader concerned.

• If your complaint is relating to the Team Leader, you can instead raise this informally with the Diocesan Secretary or Head of People
   

How your complaint will be handled
Complaints raised at this informal stage will usually be dealt with through face to face, telephone or online conversations.

If at any stage of this process, you wish to have an informal conversation about where to direct your complaint, please contact the Head of People.
 

Timescales
Complaints should be made within 28 days of the incident that you are complaining about occurring, or the most recent incident if relating to a series or pattern of events.

Complaints received outside of this time frame may not be considered, however, if there are extenuating circumstances these will need to be explained and we will consider this fairly in order to determine the most appropriate way forward.

Read more about making an informal complaint - View our Complaints Procedure

Stage 2 - Formal complaint

If it has not be possible to resolve your complaint informally (Stage 1), or due to the severity of the complaint, it may be necessary to raise your complaint formally at Stage 2 of this process.

Your complaint should be made in writing detailing the reasons for your complaint.

Your written complaint should be raised within the same timescales set out in Stage 1 and should be sent to the Diocesan Secretary, or the Director of Education if the matter relates to the Diocesan Board of Education.

• If your complaint is relating to the Diocesan Secretary, your complaint should be sent to the Chair of the Board of Finance.
• If your complaint is relating to the Director of Education, your complaint should be sent to the Chair of the Board of Education.

Read more about making a formal complaint - View our Complaints Procedure
 

Other ways to share feedback

There may be occasions when there is another more appropriate procedure in place, depending on the parties involved and/or the nature of the complaint.

• Bullying and harrassment: For complaints relating to Bullying and Harassment, please refer to the Anti-bullying and Harassment policy
   
• Complaints against clergy: For complaints against a member of Clergy, please see the Clergy Complaints Procedure and also Church of England: Clergy Discipline
   
• Complaints by staff: For complaints being made by an employee of the Rochester Diocesan Board of Finance or Education, these should be addressed using the employee Grievance Procedure contained within the Staff Handbook.
  
  ** If your complaint relates to the conduct of the Safeguarding Team, while the Grievance Procedure may still be used, the independent Chair of Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel, and/or the Bishop’s Lead Archdeacon for Safeguarding will also be consulted to determine appropriate steps.
   
• Vexatious complaints: Our vexatious complaints policy deals only with the management of abusive, unreasonably persistent, and/or vexatious complainants that cannot be resolved by the ordinary procedures as laid out in other diocesan policies View the Vexatious Complaints Policy

Full contact details for the Bishop's office, the Diocesan Office, and other Diocesan staff can be found at Contact Us
 

Key Contacts