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Policies

Introduction

If there is any part of our service that you are unhappy with, we would like to know about this so we can take steps to address your concern. All concerns and complaints will be dealt with in a timely and professional manner.

This Complaints Policy does not apply to OTR staff and volunteers who should instead use the most appropriate OTR internal policy and procedure.

Step 1 – Informal complaint

If you are unhappy about any aspect of our service, please bring it to the attention of one of our staff or volunteers at the time the concern arises so they can try to resolve the concern.

If you do not wish to make your complaint in person, please follow Step 2 below.

Step 2 – Formal complaint

If your complaint cannot be resolved informally, or you do not wish to make a complaint in person, please put the complaint in writing. We will acknowledge receipt of any complaint received by email or letter within a week of receiving it.

  • We will endeavour to provide you with a full response to your written complaint within 2 weeks. If the response needs more time, we will tell you in writing of the delay and let you know when we hope to be able to respond in full.
  • On receipt of the written complaint, we will assign the most appropriate person to deal with the complaint. They will investigate the matter and communicate regularly with you until the issue is hopefully resolved.
  • When putting your complaint in writing, please include the following details:
  • The specific area, service, individual, or resource to which the complaint applies.
  • Outline the nature of your complaint as precisely as possible, this will help us to investigate further and hopefully to resolve the issue. Please include details such as the place and time the incident occurred.
  • Your name and contact details.
  • Please let us know if you have already reported the complaint, and if any action was taken previously.

The following will not be treated as complaints under this policy:

  • Complaints made anonymously or without providing contact details
  • Complaints that are not about Off The Record
  • The complaint is unclear or there is insufficient information to understand the nature of the complaint
  • The complaint is sent to us as part of a bulk email or mail
  • Complaints contains abusive, aggressive, or discriminatory language
  • Malicious complaints
  • An external regulatory body is already investigating the complaint – unless that body instruct us to investigate
  • Further information about the complaint is needed and when requested, it is not provided

Once we complete our investigations, we will share our response with you which will summarise how we handled the complaint, what steps we have or will take to resolve the complaint, and what you can do if you are not happy with the outcome.

To comply with data protection legislation and maintain confidentiality we may not be able to share all the information from our investigation and subsequent decision making with you.

If you are unable to use letter or email to make your complaint, please telephone us and a member of staff or volunteer will write down the details on your behalf.

Please use the following contact details to make your complaint:

  • 023 92474724 · enquiries@otr-south.org.uk
  • 138 Purbrook Way, Havant, PO9 3SU

Step 3 – If you are not satisfied with the response

Please write to Off The Record by letter or email explaining the nature your ongoing concern. We will record the date your letter or email is received and acknowledge receipt within no more than two weeks.

If your letter or email doesn’t contain sufficient information for us to understand why you are dissatisfied with the outcome of how we’ve handled your complaint so far, we will ask you for further information and wait for this to be provided before we continue.

Once we have all the information needed from you, a copy will be passed to the Chair of our Board of Trustees who will appoint one or more Trustees to further investigate the complaint. Depending on the nature of the complaint and its seriousness, the Chair may also appoint someone else with expertise relating to the complaint to advise the Trustees.

Once the Trustee(s) and/or other appointed person(s) have concluded their investigation and reached a conclusion, a written report will be complied and sent to the Chair of the Board of Trustees, or their nominated representative.

The Chair of the Board of Trustees will use the details of the written report to provide you with a final response. You should receive our final response with three weeks of your concern being passed to the Chair. We will let you know in writing if there are any delays.

As above, to comply with data protection legislation and maintain confidentiality we may not be able to share all the information from our investigation and subsequent decision making with you.

Eligibility of Service

OTR offers services to young people and their families in the Havant Borough and East Hampshire area.

As defined by OTR, Havant Borough consists of postcodes starting with:

  • PO7
  • PO8
  • PO9
  • PO10
  • PO11

As defined by OTR, East Hampshire consists of postcodes starting with:

  • GU30
  • GU31
  • GU32
  • GU33
  • GU34
  • GU35

Young carers services are offered to Havant Borough only, as more localised services are available in East Hampshire. All other services are offered to both Havant Borough and East Hampshire.

If you move out of the area specified above before your service with OTR starts, you will no longer be eligible for our services and OTR will signpost you to an appropriate alternative organisation wherever possible.

Rarely, areas covered by OTR services may change due to changes in funding outside of OTR’s control. On these occasions every effort will be taken to see existing service users on our waiting list, however we may have to signpost you to an appropriate alternative organisation.

Cost of Service

All services provided by OTR to our clients are free of charge. OTR are available to provide our services free of charge to our clients through generous donations of time and skills from our volunteers and funding and donations received. As clients, we ask that you help us keep our service free of charge to you by meeting these terms of service.

Abuse Statement

OTR have a zero-tolerance policy of bullying, violence and abuse towards staff and other service users. A service user who bullies, uses violence, or abuses anybody within OTR will be removed from all of OTR’s services indefinitely.

Discretion

To allow service users to use our services and maintain their privacy, we ask that all service users and their parents/carers do not discuss other service users that they recognise or participate in group activities with outside of OTR.

Travel to and From OTR and OTR’s Outposts

It is the responsibility of clients and/or the parents/carers of clients to ensure that all service users can safely be transported to and from the requested location on time to receive the service (including the OTR Office, Leigh Park Community Centre, OTR’s various outposts and Young Carers trip rendezvous point). This includes if a service user needs to leave early for any reason.

Please note – if a service user needs to leave a young carers trip earlier than the agreed departure time, the parent/carer is responsible for ensuring their safe return from their current location.

Initial Assessment

All clients receive an initial assessment with OTR before receiving each of the services they have requested. Suitability for one service does not guarantee suitability for all services offered by OTR. The purpose of an initial assessment is to:

  • Ensure the client is suitable for OTR.
  • Ensure the client is suitable for the specific service they have requested at this time.
  • Identify any specific requirements and adjustments a client needs and do our best to accommodate these where possible.

Please note – for Young Carers, service users will receive a reassessment as they transition between age groups to establish whether they will continue receiving Young Carers support or graduate from the Young Carers Programme.

Attendance

To provide our service free of charge to all those who need it, OTR must observe strict attendance policies for both initial assessments and ongoing services. Each service has its own attendance requirements – please see below:

Counselling and Family Counselling

  • Counselling sessions are 50 minutes each week for a course of 6 weeks, at the same day, time and location each week with the same counsellor.
  • If you are late for a session, this time will either be taken off the total time of the sessions or, if there is not enough time to continue will count as a missed appointment.
  • If two sessions are missed, Off the Record (OTR) will consider that you no longer would like to receive counselling from us, and we will end your counselling provision with OTR.
  • You can cancel one session in advance during each 6-session appointment block.
  • Advance means more than 24 hours’ notice – but preferably this would be much more notice than that. If the cancellation is less than 24 hours that it counts as a missed session (above).
  • If you need to miss a face-to-face session due to travel reasons etc – you can explore with your counsellor about completing it via telephone / zoom one week so as not to miss the session.
  • For remote counselling sessions, you will need a private space without excessive noise and with a strong and stable wifi connection/telephone signal.
  • If there is no answer, or you haven’t showed up to your remote counselling session, the counsellor will try to contact you 2 more times every 5 minutes – if they still cannot get an answer, your session will be considered as missed. Your counsellor will try at the same day/ time next week.
  • If the call/zoom stops, your counsellor will try to contact you again. Your counsellor will continue to try to call/reconnect for 5 minutes. If it is not possible to reconnect due to technical difficulties, your session may need to be ended earlier than you or your counsellor was expecting. Your session will be recorded as ‘attended’ and your counsellor will contact you the following week at the regular agreed day/ time/method for your next session.
  • OTR aims to send each client a text reminder of their appointment to the lead contact approximately 72 hours in advance, however this cannot be guaranteed. Clients are responsible for ensuring that appointments are remembered and attended.

Groupwork: Managing Emotions (11-25)

  • Managing Emotions sessions are 60-90 minutes each week for a course of 6 weeks, which fall within term time.
  • Occasionally one day managing emotions courses are run outside of term time.
  • To attend Managing Emotions you must be able to commit to attend each week for the full duration of the course.
  • If you do not attend for 2 sessions without prior contact, you will not be able to repeat the You First course for 1 year.

Groupwork: You First (Parents/Carers of 11-25)

  • You First courses are run subject to demand. Please join the waiting list if you are interested in participating, even if the current schedule does not suit you so that we can meet demand going forward.
  • You First sessions are 2 hours each week for a course of 8 weeks, with a break for half term.
  • To attend You First you must be able to commit to attend each week for the full duration of the course.
  • If you do not attend for 2 sessions without prior contact, you will not be able to repeat the Managing Emotions course until the next academic year.
  • Parents/carers of the same young person(s) must attend separate courses.

Young Carers

  • Intakes for the Young Carers Programme are in January, April, and September each year. Applications can be made at any time.
  • The Young Carers Programme consists of fortnightly support sessions and occasional leisure activities.
  • Fortnightly support sessions last 2 hours. The length of leisure activities varies.
  • To be eligible for leisure activities, a service user must regularly attend the Young Carers support sessions.
  • If a service user does not attend the Young Carers support sessions for a period of 3 months, they will automatically be discharged.
  • Due to the financial implications, if a service user no shows or gives a late cancellation for a trip the service user may not be invited on future trips.

Feedback

Feedback is vital for OTR to continuously improve our services and demonstrate to our funders and supporters the positive impact our services provide to our young people, their parents/carers and the wider community. At the end of your final session of the service you have received, you will be invited to fill in a Feedback Form to evaluate the service you have received. This feedback is always used anonymously and any revealing information provided will be redacted before use. If you do not wish for your feedback to be used on our public facing media, such as social media, posters and our website, you are able to opt out when completing the form.

Returning to OTR

Once you have been discharged from a service, either due to completion of service or non-attendance of appointments, the following timelines are followed for returning to OTR for the same service:

  • Counselling and Family Counselling – 6 months after discharge date
  • Managing Emotions – next academic year after discharge date
  • You First – 1 year
  • Young Carers: Welcome to return to the Young Carers service at any time, subject to a successful initial assessment.

If you are removed from the waiting list before receiving the service in question (including initial assessment) with us, you are welcome to return at any time.

If you are removed from a service due to a service refusal, if and when you would be able to return to that service will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

If you saw a counsellor with OTR previously and return to the service 6 months or more later, OTR cannot guarantee that you will be able to see the same counsellor on your return.

Complaints

If you have any complaints about the service, please feel free to talk to the provider of the service you are seeing (e.g. counsellor, groupwork leader etc.) or to the administration team to try and resolve the issue as quickly as possible. If you would like to speak to someone else, please inform the administration team. A copy of our Complaints Policy is available by contacting enquiries@otr-south.org.uk