Complaints
Do you have a complaint about Citizens Advice Wirral?
We want everyone who uses our services to be happy. If something hasn’t gone well, please let us know. Your feedback helps us improve.
If you make a complaint, we will still try to help you. If we can’t, we’ll do our best to find another organisation to assist you.
What can you complain about?
You can complain if you are unhappy with:
- The advice we gave you
- How we treated you
- Problems contacting us
- How we use your personal information
If you need extra support to make a complaint, like larger font size, please let us know.
How we handle complaints
This process covers complaints about advice or services you received from us:
- At a walk-up advice session
- Over the phone
- By email
- In writing
Steps to making your complaint
Step 1: Talk to us informally
If something has gone wrong, you can ask to speak to a supervisor. We will try to fix the problem quickly.
If we can’t solve the issue or you’re still unhappy, you can make a formal complaint. You don’t have to talk to us informally before making a formal complaint.
Step 2: Make a formal complaint
How we investigate:
- A supervisor will review your complaint.
- If your complaint is about the Chief Officer, the Chair of the Board of Trustees will investigate.
- You’ll get a reply within 8 weeks (or 20 working days if you’re a third party).
If it will take longer, we’ll let you know.
Step 3: Ask for a review
If you’re unhappy with the reply to your complaint, you can ask the National Client Services team to review it.
How to ask for a review:
- You must ask within 4 weeks of getting the reply.
- Explain which parts of the reply you are unhappy with.
What happens next:
- You’ll get an email within 5 working days explaining the next steps.
- The review will check if:
- The investigation was done properly
- Your concerns were fully answered
- The reply was fair and reasonable
The review will usually be finished within 8 weeks.
Step 4: Independent review
If you’re still unhappy after the review, you can ask for an independent adjudicator to look at your complaint.
Important: Third parties cannot request an independent review.
How to ask:
- You must ask within 4 weeks of the review outcome.
- Explain why you’re not happy with the review.
The independent adjudicator will contact you to explain the next steps. Their decision is final.
The Client Services team will send you an email within 5 days of getting your request for a review telling you what will happen next.
Making your complaint
Only use this email to send us complaints – we can’t reply if you ask for advice.
When you email us about your complaint, please let us know the best way to contact you.
For all other types of complaints, you can complain to the Client Services team.
There’s a different process if you’re complaining about:
- the Consumer Service – check their complaints process
- the Witness Service – they’ll let you know how they deal with complaints
- Pension Wise – they’ll let you know how they deal with complaints
- National Citizens Advice – they’ll let you know how we deal with complaints
How we handle unacceptable behaviour
It can be stressful to make a complaint, but we won’t accept poor treatment while dealing with your complaint, including:
- aggressive behaviour
- abusive language or swearing
- unreasonable demands – like demanding that someone talks to you immediately If you’re seriously or repeatedly abusive we might refuse to deal with your complaint.
You can find out more about how we handle unacceptable behaviour.