Open or Close Menu Complaints It is National Oceanography Centre’s policy to conduct all of our business in an honest and ethical manner. We are committed to acting professionally, fairly and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships, no matter where in the world this takes place and with anyone we come into contact with. This page outlines the procedures allowing you to raise any problems or concerns about our organisation and staff. We take complaints about our work, staff and levels of service very seriously. If you are not satisfied, please follow the process for raising a complaint. A complaint is a specific matter about which someone feels aggrieved or it is a piece of negative feedback provided to the organisation, or someone within it, about an employee action, project deliverable or service offered by NOC. NOC staff have responsibility for ensuring: high standards of customer care, understanding that our customers and stakeholders are important to us everyone they meet or engage with is treated with professional courtesy feedback and complaints are handled to agreed standards lessons are learned and communicated positive feedback is passed on. NOC Directors, Associate Directors, Group Heads and Team Leaders have overall responsibility for ensuring high standards of customer care and for dealing with any feedback. Our Executive Team and Board of Trustees will regularly review feedback and complaints. How to make a complaint or provide feedback In the first instance, contact the person who you dealt with originally to try and resolve the matter. However, if you are still not satisfied or would prefer to escalate your complaint, you may ask for it raised as a formal complaint. You can provide complaints in writing, via telephone or online as follows; Write to us (addressed to the relevant individual of to the Head of Legal and Governance) at: National Oceanography Centre European Way Southampton SO14 3ZH United Kingdom Call us on: +44 (0)23 8059 6666 Contact us online: Use the online contact form (please select 'Complaints' as the category). What information we’ll need from you We will need A clear, detailed description of what your complaint is about Copies of any letters or emails related to the complaint Your email address or postal address (so that we can provide a response). What happens next? If you make an informal complaint, we will seek to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible and contact you regarding our next steps to resolve the issue. A Group Head and/or Team Leader will be involved in resolving your complaint If you are satisfied with the response to your informal complaint, you will receive a final outcome letter from the Chief Operating Officer and the complaint will be closed and outcome recorded. What to do if you are not satisfied If you are not satisfied, your complaint will be escalated to a formal complaint. Formal Complaints If your informal complaint cannot be resolved quickly, if the complaint is complex and needs further, detailed investigation or if you wish to log a formal complaint, we will write to you to acknowledge that we have started the formal complaints process. We will acknowledge the formal complaint within 5 working days Your complaint will be fully investigated and a written outcome provided to you within 20 days. If we are unable to reply to you within this timeframe, we will inform you of this An Associate Director will be involved in resolving your complaint If you are satisfied with the response to your formal complaint, you will receive a final outcome letter from the Chief Operating Officer and the complaint will be closed and outcome recorded. What to do if you are not completely satisfied If you are not completely satisfied with the outcome of your formal complaint, you can appeal to the appropriate Director, within 5 days of receipt of the response to your complaint. The Director will review your complaint, the investigation and response and write to you with a final outcome. If for any reason your complaint is still unresolved, then you can escalate your complaint to the Chair of Trustees. Registered address: European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH Company no.: 11444362 Charity no.: 1185265 (England and Wales) SC049896 (Scotland) +44 (0)23 8059 6666 Southampton +44 (0)151 795 4800 Liverpool Get in touch Contact Us Media Enquiries Staff Directory Sign up for National Oceanography Centre email alerts service Get email updates Follow us Twitter Facebook YouTube Instagram LinkedIn © 2021 The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) owns copyright of the material available at this site, unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved. Disclaimer Privacy and cookies Modern slavery Contact us Staff resources We use cookies to aid user experience Continuing to use this site means you agree to the cookies policy OK to cookies