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Decision report 201201354

  • Case ref:
    201201354
  • Date:
    January 2013
  • Body:
    Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
  • Sector:
    Scottish Government and Devolved Administration
  • Outcome:
    Some upheld, recommendations
  • Subject:
    complaints handling

Summary

Mr C complained about the way in which the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) dealt with his complaint about a charity. His concerns related to both the quality of the OSCR investigations and their communication with Mr C during and following their investigations.

Our investigation found no administrative failure in terms of the content of the investigation, but we did note that it had taken far too long to complete. In addition we noted that OSCR had failed to keep Mr C fully informed of the progress of the case and had not dealt appropriately with his subsequent complaint. We upheld these aspects of his complaint.

Recommendations

We recommended that the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator:

  • provide an apology to Mr C for the injustice identified in our decision notice;
  • introduce some limited form of routine updating to complainants and alter their inquiry and investigation policy accordingly; and
  • review their complaints policy and consult with the Ombudsman before introducing a revised version.

 

Updated: March 13, 2018