Time limits

Making a Complaint

A complaint should be made within 6 months of the incident occurring or 6 months from the date the complainant became aware that there was something to complain about.

Making decisions about whether or not to support complaints that are out of time

In the past, ICAS have been approached to support complaints that have occurred several years before the client has contacted them. It may be that the client has taken their complaint to a Trust themselves, and that there has been extensive communication that hasn’t resulted in the outcome that the client wanted.

The ICAS advocate needs to be careful taking on complaints that are long out of date: the service has some discretion to refuse to support such complaints. Where clients are trying to bring complaints that appear to be well outside of the standard timescales, ICAS advocates will need to seek the agreement of their line manager before taking them on.

Next: Local Resolution