Complaints and compliments

We take complaints seriously and appreciate that mistakes can be learning opportunities. We want to learn from complaints, so that we can do better in the future and can put things right where they have gone wrong.

Our definition of a complaint

A complaint is when someone lets us know that they are unhappy about any aspect of Alzheimer’s Society’s work. Some examples might include, but are not limited to:

• the standard, inclusiveness, or appropriateness of service we provide
• a policy, campaign, or anything else we promote
• Alzheimer’s Society’s report, strategy, or position on a particular issue
• the behaviour, skills or knowledge of our staff, volunteers and people acting on our behalf
• the way we have treated their personal information
• something we have or haven’t done 

How to complain

Online

You can submit your complaint online through our feedback form.

By phone

You can call our Supporter Care team on 0330 333 0804, 8am to 10pm every day (except Christmas Day).

By post

You can write into us at the following address:

Alzheimer's Society
Suite 2
1st Floor East Wing
Plumer House
Tailyour Road
Plymouth
PL6 5FD

You can also make your complaint to any Alzheimer’s Society employee or volunteer – either by telling them verbally or in writing.

How we treat your complaint  

If you can, tell us who you are so that we can look into and help resolve the situation.  

We will also record your complaint, even when:

• We resolve it immediately and don’t need to take any further action
• You make your complaint anonymously

We will treat any information provided by complainants confidentially and store complaints securely, in accordance with privacy and data protection laws and our policies.  

However, there may be circumstances where we need to share information where a complaint raises safeguarding concerns, a risk of harm, information governance matters, or other issues requiring action or escalation.

In these situations, we will share information only with those who need to know through the appropriate internal processes and in line with our relevant policies and procedures. After the complaint is resolved, we will keep a summary on record, using relevant data protection protocols.

We use anonymized information from complaints and compliments to help demonstrate the impact of our work, make sure we learn, and improve our services.  

The Society has a two-stage complaints resolution process

Stage 1: Local resolution

• We will log your complaint immediately and aim to resolve it straight away. If this is not possible, then the Society will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two working days, and we will aim to resolve your complaint within 10 working days.
• If your complaint relates to a commissioned service in Northern Ireland, we will aim to resolve your complaint within 5 working days (in line with Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman guidelines).
• If we are unable to resolve your complaint within this time frame, we will let you know within 20 working days of receipt when you can expect to hear from us. This may happen if your complaint is particularly complex.  

Stage 2: Appeal

• If you are not satisfied with our response to your initial complaint, you can formally appeal the decision within 10 working days of receiving our response (a service user in Northern Ireland has a minimum of 30 days to request that it be considered at Stage 2).  
• Please let us know why you are unhappy with the decision made. You can do this by replying to our response or using the contact methods in the 'How to Complain' section.
• We will give you the outcome of your appeal within 20 working days of receiving it. This will include our findings and conclusions - Stage 2 appeal decisions are final.
• If we are still unable to settle the complaint we will advise you of any appropriate external body to whom you may refer the issue. These have been set out below. 

Complaints about content on our Dementia Support Forum 

If your concern relates to content shared on our online forum, it will be managed through our moderation and complaints process.

If you identify harmful, abusive or inappropriate content on the forum, you should report it using the ‘Report’ function available on forum posts and private messages so that our moderation team can review and take appropriate action.

If you are unhappy with the Dementia Support Forum, or with how we have handled content or moderation decisions, you can make a formal complaint through Alzheimer’s Society’s complaints process, as outlined above.

This includes concerns about harmful, abusive or inappropriate content, as well as moderation decisions.

Where appropriate, we may take interim action (such as restricting or removing content) while a complaint is under review.

Following review, we will inform you of the outcome of your complaint. This may include actions such as content removal, account action, or a decision that no further action is required.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can request a Stage 2 appeal, where your complaint will be reviewed by a different member of the team. 

How we review and prioritise concerns 

To help keep the forum safe and supportive, concerns about content are reviewed in line with our moderation processes and are prioritised based on risk. Issues that may pose a higher risk to users are prioritised for more urgent review and action.

We aim to review concerns and take appropriate action as quickly as possible within our staffing and moderation hours. Please note that the forum is not actively staffed at all times. Details of our staffing and moderation hours are available in our Community Guidelines. 

Taking your complaint outside of Alzheimer’s Society  

The Charity Commission regulates registered charities in England and Wales. They make sure that charities are accountable, well-run, and meet their legal obligations. The Commission will receive complaints related to suspected serious abuse or illegal activity at a charity.  

The Charity Commission do advise that you initially contact the charity directly with your complaint, although you do not need to wait for Alzheimer’s Society to complete its investigation before contacting them.

You can contact The Charity Commission in the following ways: 

Online

You can find out more about the type of complaints that the Charity Commission can consider by filling out:

• The raising concerns about a charity form on The UK Charity Commission website.
• The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland contact form. 

By phone

• You can contact The UK Charity Commission team on 0300 066 9197 (9am - 5pm Monday to Friday).
• For The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, contact the team on 028 3832 0220 (9am - 5pm Monday to Friday). 

To make sure that we value and learn from complaints we: 

• Deal with all complaints in a timely, appropriate and professional way.
• Keep statistical information about the number, type and seriousness of complaints we receive.
• Provide regular reports to our Chief Executive and Board of Trustees about all the complaints we receive.
• Make sure our employees and people acting on our behalf know about our complaints policy and procedures.

Compliments

Recording compliments is an important part of understanding how Alzheimer’s Society and our services are experienced by people living with dementia, their carers, families, and partner organisations. 

Compliments provide valuable insight into what is working well and where our services are having a positive impact, helping to evidence good practice.  

Alongside complaints and other feedback, compliments contribute to a balanced understanding of service quality and support our commitment to openness and transparency.  

Information gathered from compliments is used to inform service improvement, recognise and share good practice, and support learning across teams.  

You can submit a compliment online through our feedback form, selecting ‘Positive’ in the feedback type drop-down box.