Event Summary
A positive complaint handling culture can drive change.
Holyrood Insight’s popular Public Sector Complaints Scotland Conference will take place on Tuesday 24th February in Edinburgh, bringing together public service professionals from across Scotland.
You will gain practical solutions, ideas, and strategies to strengthen your complaints handling process. Gain practical advice to help you achieve early resolution at Stage 1 and conduct in-depth Stage 2 investigations.
The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman will explore a person-centred, rights-based approach to complaint handling. The session will examine how organisations can apply the Good Complaint Handling Principles to ensure people feel heard, respected and valued throughout the process.
Against a backdrop of rising complaint volumes and pressure on public services, the SPSO will consider how to design complaints processes that work in practice — placing service users at the heart of resolution and learning.
We will explore how to empower and equip frontline staff to handle frontline complaints with confidence, empathy and professionalism, including strategies for de-escalation, mediation, positive resolution and organisational learning.
From the Care Inspectorate, you will hear how to deliver fair, thorough and consistent complaints investigations. Maintain impartiality, reach clear and timely decisions, and ensure investigations are robust, evidence-based and balanced.
You will hear from a range of trailblazing public sector organisations, including the University of Glasgow, Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, Consumer Scotland and the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance, sharing what works in practice and how to strengthen complaints handling systems.
Complaints processes should be empathetic, inclusive, and accessible. Learn how to respond to complexity in complaints, including supporting vulnerable service users and children and young people. Embed trauma-informed approaches and inclusive principles within your complaint handling.
Reimagining complaint handling in social care, we will share early findings from the Scottish Social Care Complaints Policy Lab. What does best practice look like in social care? How can complaints systems address power imbalances, repair relationships with service users, and drive a culture of continuous improvement?
Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with colleagues from across the public sector, learn from best practice, and strengthen your organisation’s approach to complaint handling.
Key Points
- Embedding the Good Complaint Handling Principles in practice
- Investigating complaints: planning your investigation, gathering information, evaluating evidence
- Empowering and equipping frontline staff to handle stage 1 complaints
- Making and communicating decisions, making meaningful apologies, and appropriate remedies
- Handling complex complaints and complainants: positive and respectful engagement in challenging circumstances
- Supporting vulnerable service users through the complaints process
- Shifting culture within your organisation towards complaints.
- Data-driven strategies and AI to manage demand and drive organisational learning.
Sponsorship
Interested in sponsoring this event? Click here for sponsorship opportunities.
