Effective Date: 2 June 2026
Last Updated: 2 June 2026
Version: 2
This Complaints Policy explains how Assured Consultancy Services Ltd receives, records, investigates and responds to complaints.
We aim to be clear, fair, practical and transparent, reflecting the same people-first approach we take in our consultancy work.
We value feedback, including complaints, because it helps us improve our services, strengthen our controls and maintain trust with clients, partners and the people who interact with us.
This policy applies to complaints about our services, communications, website, privacy practices, cookie use, accessibility and other interactions with Assured Consultancy Services Ltd.
This policy should be read alongside our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Website Terms of Use and any client engagement terms that apply to services we provide.
1. Who We Are
Assured Consultancy Services Ltd is a private limited company registered in England and Wales.
Company Number: 16543932
Registered Office: Fusion@Magna Business Centre, Magna Way, Rotherham, S60 1FE
Website: www.assuredconsultancyservices.com
General Enquiries: [email protected]
Customer Service: +44 (0) 333 772 4102
ICO Registration Reference: ZB997396
📧 DPO / Privacy Contact: [email protected]
📧 Complaints: [email protected]
2. Purpose of This Policy
The purpose of this policy is to make it easy for people to raise concerns and to explain what they can expect from us when they do.
It is designed to support fair complaint handling, practical resolution, accountability, continuous improvement and compliance with relevant data protection complaint handling requirements.
We will handle complaints professionally, respectfully and without retaliation. Making a complaint will not affect your legal rights or, where relevant, your ability to access our services.
3. Our Complaint Handling Principles
| Principle | What This Means in Practice |
|---|---|
| Clear and accessible | We provide clear ways to complain and will try to support people who need help to raise a concern. |
| Fair and impartial | We will consider the facts carefully and avoid assumptions or unfair treatment. |
| Prompt and practical | We will acknowledge complaints promptly and investigate without unnecessary delay. |
| Confidential and proportionate | We will only share complaint information with people who need it to review, investigate, resolve or learn from the issue. |
| People-first | We will communicate in a respectful, plain-English and practical way. |
| Accountable | We will keep appropriate records, explain outcomes and identify lessons learned where needed. |
4. What Is a Complaint?
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about Assured Consultancy Services Ltd, our services, our people, our website, our communications, our handling of personal data or another matter connected with us where a response or resolution is expected.
A complaint can be made verbally or in writing. You do not need to use the word “complaint” for us to treat it seriously.
| Complaint Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Service complaint | Concerns about quality, timing, communication, delivery, conduct, expectations, billing or how a project has been handled. |
| Website or content complaint | Concerns about website content, accessibility, contact forms, downloadable materials or online user experience. |
| Data protection complaint | Concerns about how we collect, use, share, retain, secure or respond to requests about personal data. |
| Cookie complaint | Concerns about cookies, similar technologies, consent choices or cookie information on our website. |
| Marketing complaint | Concerns about marketing communications, unsubscribe requests or communication preferences. |
| Supplier or partner complaint | Concerns about our engagement with suppliers, associates, subcontractors or professional partners. |
5. What May Not Be Treated as a Complaint
Some matters may need to be handled under a different process. We will still respond appropriately and route the matter to the right person or process where needed.
| Matter | How We May Handle It |
|---|---|
| General enquiries | Handled as a normal enquiry unless you are expressing dissatisfaction and seeking a response or resolution. |
| Requests for proposals or service information | Handled by the relevant business or client services contact. |
| Data protection rights requests | Handled under our Privacy Policy and data protection rights process, although a complaint can be raised at the same time. |
| Suspected personal data breach reports | Handled under our incident response and breach assessment process, with complaint handling where appropriate. |
| Security or vulnerability concerns | Handled as a priority security matter. Please do not test, scan or access our systems without written permission. |
| Employment or worker concerns | Handled under the relevant internal HR, contractor or engagement process where applicable. |
| Complaints about a client organisation | Where the issue is about one of our clients rather than us, we may direct you to that organisation unless we are responsible for the issue raised. |
6. How to Make a Complaint
You can make a complaint using any of the routes below. Where possible, please use the complaints email address so we can log and manage the matter efficiently.
If you raise a complaint with a member of our team directly, they will make sure it is passed to the right person for logging and review.
| Contact Route | Details |
|---|---|
| Email for complaints | [email protected] |
| Data protection complaints | [email protected] or [email protected] |
| General enquiries | [email protected] |
| Telephone | +44 (0) 333 772 4102 / 0333 772 4102 |
| Post | Assured Consultancy Services Ltd, Fusion@Magna Business Centre, Magna Way, Rotherham, S60 1FE |
7. What to Include in Your Complaint
You do not need to provide a long explanation, but the information below helps us understand and investigate the issue quickly.
| Helpful Information | Examples |
|---|---|
| Your details | Name, organisation, contact details and preferred contact method. |
| The issue | What happened, when it happened and why you are unhappy. |
| Relevant references | Proposal, invoice, project, training, event, website page, email thread or reference number where available. |
| People involved | The names or roles of people involved, where known. |
| Evidence | Copies of relevant communications, screenshots, documents or dates, where appropriate. |
| Preferred outcome | What you would like us to do, such as explain, correct, apologise, review, change a process or take another reasonable action. |
| Support needs | Any accessibility needs, communication preferences or reasonable adjustments. |
Please do not send special category data, criminal offence data, confidential client material, commercially sensitive information or large volumes of personal data unless it is necessary for the complaint and we have agreed an appropriate secure route.
8. Accessibility and Support
We want our complaints process to be accessible, practical and easy to use.
If you need help making a complaint, need information in another format or would prefer to communicate in a particular way, please tell us and we will consider reasonable adjustments.
You may ask someone else to complain on your behalf. We may need evidence that they are authorised to act for you, especially where the complaint involves personal data, confidential information or a data protection rights request.
9. Our Complaint Handling Journey
We use a staged approach so complaints are logged, reviewed, investigated and resolved consistently.
| Stage | What We Do |
|---|---|
| 1. Receive and log | We record the complaint, identify the complaint type and assign an owner or reviewer. |
| 2. Acknowledge | We acknowledge receipt, usually by email or phone, and may provide a reference number. |
| 3. Clarify | If the issue is unclear, we may ask for more information or confirm the outcome you are looking for. |
| 4. Investigate | We review relevant records, speak to people involved and consider policies, contracts, law and good practice where relevant. |
| 5. Respond | We provide an outcome, explanation and any action we will take where appropriate. |
| 6. Learn | We record lessons learned and consider improvements to services, training, controls, website content or processes. |
10. Service Complaint Timescales
For service-related complaints, we aim to use the following timescales. These are internal service targets and may be adjusted where the matter is unusually complex, involves third parties or requires further evidence.
If we cannot meet a target timescale, we will aim to tell you why and explain when you can expect a further update.
| Step | Target Timescale |
|---|---|
| Acknowledgement | Usually within 2 business days of receiving the complaint. |
| Progress update | If not resolved within 7 business days, we aim to provide an update. |
| Resolution | Most service complaints are resolved within 14 business days. |
| Complex matters | Where more time is needed, we will explain why and aim to respond within 28 business days where practical. |
| Final response | We will provide an outcome once we have completed our review and decided what action is appropriate. |
11. Data Protection Complaints
A data protection complaint is a complaint about how we use, handle, protect, retain or respond to requests about personal data.
Data protection complaints may relate to matters such as transparency, lawful basis, data sharing, retention, security, direct marketing, cookies, data protection rights, personal data breaches or how we have handled a previous data protection request.
We provide ways for people to raise data protection complaints and we will handle them in line with applicable data protection law and regulatory expectations.
If your complaint also includes a data protection rights request, such as a subject access request, we will identify and manage that rights request under the timescales and process explained in our Privacy Policy.
| Requirement | Our Approach |
|---|---|
| How to complain | You can complain by email, telephone, post, website contact routes or directly to our Data Protection Officer / privacy contact. |
| Acknowledgement | We will acknowledge data protection complaints within 30 days of receipt. Our internal aim is to acknowledge sooner where practical. |
| Investigation | We will take appropriate steps to investigate without undue delay, including making reasonable enquiries into the subject matter. |
| Updates | We will keep you informed without undue delay where the matter is ongoing or more information is needed. |
| Outcome | We will tell you the outcome without undue delay once our enquiries are complete. |
12. Complaints Involving Client Materials or Client Personal Data
Because we provide data privacy, data security, compliance, assurance and responsible AI consultancy services, we may handle client materials as a processor or under client instructions.
Where a complaint relates to personal data, documents or decisions controlled by one of our clients, that client may be responsible for responding to you. We will explain this where we can and may direct you to the relevant organisation.
Where the complaint concerns how Assured Consultancy Services Ltd has handled client materials, confidential information or personal data, we will review our own actions, controls and contractual responsibilities.
13. Confidentiality and Sensitive Information
We will handle complaint information confidentially and proportionately.
Complaint information may be shared internally with people who need to know in order to investigate, respond, take advice, improve services, manage risk or comply with legal obligations.
Where appropriate, information may also be shared with professional advisers, insurers, regulators, law enforcement, courts, suppliers or client representatives, but only where necessary and lawful.
If a complaint involves sensitive or confidential information, we may agree a secure transfer route before asking you to send supporting documents.
14. Possible Outcomes
Complaint outcomes will depend on the facts and the issue raised. Where appropriate, we may take one or more of the following actions.
| Outcome | Example Action |
|---|---|
| Explanation | Explain what happened, why it happened and what we considered. |
| Correction | Correct an error, update a record, amend a document or fix website information. |
| Apology | Apologise where we have fallen short of our standards. |
| Service action | Complete an outstanding action, review communication or agree a practical next step. |
| Process improvement | Update a process, checklist, policy, template, training approach or control. |
| Learning and coaching | Provide internal feedback, guidance or additional training where appropriate. |
| No further action | Explain why no further action is appropriate where the complaint is not upheld or cannot be progressed. |
15. Escalation and Senior Review
If you are unhappy with our response, please tell us why and quote your complaint reference number if one has been provided.
Where appropriate, we may arrange a senior review by someone who was not directly involved in the original decision or issue.
A senior review may consider whether the complaint was handled fairly, whether the outcome was reasonable and whether further action is needed.
16. External Routes
We hope to resolve complaints directly and fairly. However, depending on the nature of the complaint, there may be external routes available to you.
For privacy or data protection complaints, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection.
🔗 www.ico.org.uk | 📞 0303 123 1113 | Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Nothing in this policy prevents you from seeking independent advice or using any legal rights available to you.
17. Unreasonable or Abusive Behaviour
We are committed to treating complainants respectfully and we ask that our team is treated respectfully in return.
We may take proportionate steps where behaviour becomes abusive, threatening, discriminatory, harassing, repetitive without new information or unreasonably disruptive.
This may include limiting communication to a specific route, assigning a single point of contact or declining to respond to repeated points that have already been addressed. We will not use this section to avoid genuine complaints.
18. Records, Retention and Learning
We keep appropriate records of complaints, investigations, outcomes and learning actions.
Complaint records help us demonstrate accountability, monitor service quality, identify trends, improve controls and respond to legal, regulatory, insurance, audit or dispute requirements.
Complaint records and related correspondence are usually retained in line with our Privacy Policy. Complaints, rights requests, disputes and legal claims may usually be retained for up to 6 years afterwards unless a longer period is required or justified.
19. Privacy and Data Protection
We will use personal data provided in connection with a complaint to receive, assess, investigate, respond to, record and learn from the complaint.
We may also use complaint information to protect our legal rights, meet legal or regulatory obligations, support insurance matters, improve our services and maintain appropriate records.
More information about how we use personal data, our lawful bases, who we share data with, how long we keep it and your rights is set out in our Privacy Policy. Our use of cookies and similar technologies on our website is explained in our Cookie Policy.
20. Website Complaints and Online Content
If your complaint relates to our website, website content, downloadable materials, cookies, accessibility or online forms, we will review the matter and decide what action is appropriate.
Website content is provided for general information only and should be read alongside our Website Terms of Use. It is not a substitute for tailored advice for your organisation.
Where a complaint identifies inaccurate, outdated or unclear website content, we will consider whether updates are needed.
21. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Complaints Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, systems, contact details, legal requirements, regulatory guidance or good practice.
The latest version will be published on our website. Significant changes may also be communicated directly where appropriate. We recommend checking this policy periodically for the latest information.
22. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Complaints Policy or want to raise a complaint, please contact us.
Assured Consultancy Services Ltd
Fusion@Magna Business Centre, Magna Way, Rotherham, S60 1FE
📧 Complaints: [email protected]
📧 DPO / Privacy: [email protected]
📧 General enquiries: [email protected]
📞 +44 (0) 333 772 4102
🔗 www.assuredconsultancyservices.com
ICO Registration Reference: ZB997396