complaint handling and resolution

A full-day workshop for people who handle complaints and correspondence on behalf of your organisation, building the confidence and skill to respond fairly, clearly and consistently even under pressure.

Working with real complaint examples to apply your organisation's tone guide and the nine principles of good complaint handling to every response.

    • Identify the real issue and emotional drivers behind a complaint

    • Set expectations early and choose a tone that supports early resolution

    • Apply your organisation's tone guide and plain English standard to complaint responses

    • Structure a response using a clear four-part format: acknowledgement, findings, decision and next steps

    • Recognise the difference between empathy, supporting, protecting and defending your organisation

    • Turn patterns across complaints into improvements to frontline practice and service design

    • Reduce the likelihood of escalation and repeat contact through a clear, well-handled first response

  • 09:30 – 10:00
    Welcome, introductions and pre-course review
    Overview, expectations and current complaint handling challenges, and how this connects to the organisation's tone guide

    10:00 – 10:45
    Understanding the complaint
    Identifying what's driving a complaint - trigger points, emotional drivers, accessibility needs - including recognising when a complaint has been drafted with AI assistance

    10:45 – 11:00
    Break

    11:00 – 11:45
    Meaning, perspective and early resolution
    Setting expectations early and choosing a tone that supports early resolution, using techniques like bad, sad, glad, pity, praise, promise to balance empathy with the facts of the decision

    11:45 – 12:45
    Clarity, tone and plain English
    Applying the organisation's tone guide and plain English standard to complaint responses specifically, through live rewrites of real examples

    12:45 – 13:30
    Lunch

    13:30 – 14:15
    Structuring the response
    A four-part structure - acknowledgement, findings, decision and next steps - plus checking for hidden audiences: who else might read this response beyond the person who sent it

    14:15 – 15:00
    Accountability and organisational protection
    Writing responses that are empathetic, fair and transparent enough that even a complainant who disagrees can see how the decision was reached, using a four-stage approach: know your values, assess the situation objectively, decide on the right action, respond appropriately

    15:00 – 15:15
    Break

    15:15 – 16:00
    Learning from complaints
    Turning patterns across complaints into concrete improvements to frontline practice and service design

    16:00 – 16:30
    Commitments and close
    Agreeing what you will do differently from tomorrow, and how it connects to the shared standards set at pathway kickoff.

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