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About Us

Making a complaint

At the NIHR Central Commissioning Facility (CCF), we work hard to ensure that you have a positive experience when you contact us and try to resolve your queries promptly and courteously, at the time of their receipt if possible. However, we accept that things sometimes go wrong, and value your feedback in the event of a problem occurring.

This page explains how and when to make a complaint.

Definition, inclusions and exclusions

The CCF's definition of complaint is “…an expression of dissatisfaction or finding of fault with the standard of service, actions or lack of actions by staff in the CCF.” Complaints will generally include the following:

  • Failure to follow the CCF’s written guidelines and/or procedures.
  • The unhelpful or insensitive attitude of a member of CCF staff.
  • Neglect or unreasonable delay in answering a query or responding to a request for service.
The following types of complaint are excluded from the procedure:
  • Complaints which amount to a disagreement with a funding decision. These are dealt with individually by the relevant Programme Director and CCF Assistant Director. These are acknowledged by the CCF within two working days of receipt and forwarded to the relevant Programme Director, who will make the response to the enquirer, via the CCF. The Programme Director may refer the correspondence to the DH Director of R&D. The role of the CCF is to administer and communicate the response to the enquirer.
  • A matter which is currently the subject of litigation or legal proceedings.
The complaints system does not cover:

Relations between CCF staff and their contracted customers, which are covered by LGC’s Code of Conduct (where the CCF is based).

How we deal with a complaint

A complaint must be made in writing. Your complaint will be acknowledged within two working days and you will be given the timescale for our full reply. All complaints will be thoroughly investigated and you will be sent a full written response normally within seven working days of your complaint being received. In all cases where the stated response time will be exceeded, an interim reply will be sent explaining why the response time has not been met and when the final response will be sent.

What to do if you have a complaint

If you have a complaint about our service, you can tell us in writing, by email or by fax. Initially please make your complaint to the person dealing with your application or enquiry. If this officer cannot deal with your complaint to your satisfaction they will give you the name of a more senior officer whom you can contact.

What to do if you remain dissatisfied

If you remain dissatisfied, or if you are unsure whom you should contact, you may write to the Complaint Officer:

Other requests should be made in writing to:
Dr Emily Gardner, Deputy Director (Operations)
NIHR CCF,
Grange House,
15 Church Street,
Twickenham TW1 3NL
Tel: 020 8843 8000
Email: emily.gardner@nihr-ccf.org.uk