Timescales (PSR)

A complaint must usually be referred to the Commissioner within three months of the date of the regulator’s decision letter.  Although the Commissioner can consider complaints received more than three months after the decision, they will expect the complainant to provide a clear explanation of why the complaint was sent late.

The Office of the Complaints Commissioner will acknowledge complaints within three working days and aims to issue a Preliminary Report on complaints within twelve weeks and a Final Report within sixteen weeks. Complainants will be updated every four weeks.

Where there is or is likely to be a delay the Commissioner will keep complainants informed of the progress of their investigation on a regular basis.

Our service standards targets are to acknowledge 95% of all new complaints within three working days, 95% of telephone calls returned within three working days, and 95% of complainants updated every four weeks. Our service standards for investigations are to complete 95% of all investigations within 16 weeks.