The Actors’ Benevolent Fund  welcomes your feedback on our activities and services. If you have a view on something that you think we could do better or if anything has particularly impressed you, we would love to hear from you. Please see the ’Positive Feedback’ section below for more information.

We’re sorry if you’re unhappy with anything relating to The Actors’ Benevolent Fund  or our activities and services. If you have a complaint, please let us know so we can try and help. This policy sets out how you can make a complaint and what you can expect from The Actors’ Benevolent Fund  in dealing with your complaint. Please see the ‘Complaints’ section below for more information.
 

Positive Feedback

If you are happy with The Actors’ Benevolent Fund, have enjoyed using our services, or have any comments you would like us to know about, we would love to hear from you.

The best way to contact us is by email at:
office@abf.org.uk

Or you can write to us at:
The Actors’ Benevolent Fund
6, Adam St
London WC2N 6AD

Or you can call us on: 0207 836 6378

Complaints

We also want to know if there is any part of our service, or any other issue regarding The Actors’ Benevolent Fund, that you are unhappy with. We will deal with your complaint thoroughly and sensitively and as quickly as we can.  

Generally there will be four stages of the way in which we deal with your complaint, however every complaint is different and it may be sensible for us to amend these processes or leave out some stages in certain circumstances.

Stage 1
The first thing we ask you to do is to raise the issue with the person concerned, as this is often the quickest way to resolve issues and hopefully the matter will be dealt with to your satisfaction.

Stage 2
If you are dissatisfied with the person’s response, or if you don’t feel comfortable raising it with them, please get in touch with us using the contact details above.

Please include your full name, contact details and details about your complaint (e.g., what it relates to and how you would like to see it resolved).

We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days and will normally provide a substantive response within 10 working days.

If the issue is more complex and we can’t give you a meaningful response at that time, we will update you on how long we think it will take for us to investigate the issue and respond.

You will be given the name and contact details of the person who is managing your complaint, and wherever possible we’ll make sure that your complaint is dealt with by someone who is completely independent of the events complained about.

Stage 3
If you are not happy with the outcome of Stage 2, your complaint will be passed to an appropriate manager or trustee. The manager or trustee will acknowledge your complaint within 10 working days. They will normally provide a full response within 30 working days but will keep you informed if a full response may take longer.

You will be given the contact details of the individual who is managing your complaint. We will do our best to ensure that your complaint is dealt with by someone who is completely independent of the events complained about.

Stage 4
If you are not happy with the outcome of Stage 3, your complaint will be passed to the Chief Executive or, where it is not appropriate for the Chief Executive to review the case, to a nominated Trustee who is an officer of the ABF or the relevant committee chair, or a co-opted independent trustee with relevant responsibilities. The Chief Executive or Trustee will acknowledge your complaint within 10 working days. They will normally provide a full response within 30 working days but will keep you informed if a full response may take longer.

You will be given the contact details of the individual who is managing your complaint. We will do our best to ensure that your complaint is dealt with by someone who is completely independent of the events complained about.

Taking your complaint further

If you are still unhappy with our response following Stage 4, then you have the option of approaching our regulators. The Actors’ Benevolent Fund  is committed to supporting these processes.

The Actors’ Benevolent Fund   is regulated by the Charity Commission. You can find information about complaining to the Charity Commission on their website at: gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission 

If your complaint relates to a data protection issue, The Actors’ Benevolent Fund  is regulated by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Actors’ Benevolent Fund’s approach to complaints

The Actors’ Benevolent Fund takes all complaints seriously and we are committed to resolving complaints in an appropriate, fair, and timely way.

We will review all relevant evidence and take a decision based on a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding the complaint. We will provide you with reasoned explanations at each stage of the process, including information on any lessons learned or changes made at The Actors’ Benevolent Fund as a result of the complaint.

We will do our best to resolve your complaint to give you the outcome you want. Depending on the circumstances, we may, for example, offer you an apology or replace materials. Any remedy will depend on our assessment of your complaint and the circumstances surrounding it and we cannot guarantee that a particular remedy will be offered.

The Actors’ Benevolent Fund may decide to pass a complaint to regulatory or legal authorities (e.g. the Charity Commission or the police) if there is a reasonable basis to suspect that an organisation or individual has acted illegally.
 
We keep a log of all complaints received and will provide an annual analysis of complaints to our Trustees. Your information will be handled in accordance with all legal requirements and with our Privacy Policy which can be found on our website.

If we receive the same or very similar complaints multiple times from you, or we believe we have done all we can to help or that your complaint is vexatious, we will let you know. In these circumstances we will not investigate further. You can of course still contact our regulators to voice your concerns if you receive such a decision from us.

Situations where we may not respond to a complaint

On rare occasions we may choose not to respond to a complaint. These include:

• When a complaint is about something that The Actors’ Benevolent Fund  has no direct connection to. We may choose to reply to clear our name but we are not obliged to.

• When someone unreasonably pursues a complaint that we have already responded to. In this case, we may choose not to reply again – we will always inform the complainant of our decision to do this.

• When a complainant is being obviously abusive, prejudiced, or offensive in their manner.

• When a complainant is harassing a staff member.

• When a complaint is incoherent or illegible.

• When a complaint has clearly been sent to us and numerous other organisations as part of a bulk mailing or email. In this instance, we will determine whether it is necessary for us to reply or not.

When a complaint is made anonymously, we cannot respond to the complainant, but we will investigate the complaint and use the information to improve in any way that we can.

The Actors’ Benevolent Fund will not normally respond to a complaint posted on social media, which has not been separately sent in writing to the charity.

Partner organisations

The Actors’ Benevolent Fund works with a national network of partnerships and partners including local authorities, other charities, companies, welfare and health providers and contractors. We expect all of our partners and other third parties working with The Actors’ Benevolent Fund  to have their own complaints policies and procedures in place. If you are unhappy with anything in relation to our partners, please contact them directly to raise your concerns.

If you complain to us and we believe that your complaint relates to the actions of a partner or third party, we will let you know and advise that you contact them directly. We will keep a record of any complaints raised with us but that relate to the actions of a partner or third party and we will review these on an annual basis.

Other The Actors’ Benevolent Fund Policies

The Actors’ Benevolent Fund  has in place various policies governing particular aspects of our services including our Safeguarding Policy, Data Protection Policy, or Privacy Policy. Any complaint that you make will be dealt with in line with these policies where applicable.

Issues not covered by this Policy

Please note that this policy is not intended to cover concerns raised by The Actors’ Benevolent Fund  staff, Board members, volunteers, contractors or consultants. These groups should use relevant internal policies to raise complaints, including our grievance policy, Trustee policies, Code of Conduct, agreed contracts and our whistleblowing policy. Please contact us to request details of these if required. You are of course free to contact our regulators or other authorities if you feel this is appropriate.  

Approved by the Board of Trustees, Monday 6^th March 2023.