Cambridge West Interest Evening

The C3 Church Complaints Policy

The C3 Church has a complaints policy to provide a clear and fair process for addressing concerns or grievances raised by the serving team, the church family, or the wider community. This policy ensures that all complaints are handled with respect, confidentiality, and a commitment to resolution in line with our values and responsibilities.

Please read the policy to know whether your concern is best addressed by the Complaints Policy. Otherwise, you may need to use one of our other avenues to raise a concern.


Complaints Policy 

1. Scope 

We, The C3 Church, value excellence but recognise that from time to time the quality of services and activities provided by us may not meet up to the standards that our members or other individuals who experience our services and activities have come to expect.   We view complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve for the future, as well as a chance to put things right for the person or organisation that has made the complaint.  

To ensure our areas of ministry remain at a high and improving standard, this policy outlines what you can do if, for any reason, you are not satisfied with your dealings with us. 

2. What is the purpose of this policy? 

  • To provide a fair complaints procedure which is clear and easy to follow for anyone wishing to make a complaint. 
  • To make sure everyone at The C3 Church knows what to do if a complaint is received. 
  • To make sure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely manner. 
  • To make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved and that relationships are repaired.
  • To gather information which helps us to improve what we do. 

3. What types of complaints fall under this policy? 

The types of complaint that will fall under this policy will include: 

  • Conduct of our staff, volunteers and/or senior pastors. 
  • The standard of service we provide as a church. Churches are unique in that what we do is the very foundation of service. We help people. So what we mean here by service is all the activities, processes and programmes we facilitate and carry out in order to fulfil our vision and mission as a church. For example, our courses such as our discipleship programme, and Baptism classes, or community focused activities such as Friday Hub, Community Market etc. We do not mean specifically how we conduct our Sunday services (comments about this would fall under feedback – see 4.1 below).  
  • Discrimination. 
  • Provision of inaccurate information. 
  • Poor administration including delays in responding to enquiries. 
  • Financial mismanagement. 

4. What types of complaints do not fall under this policy? 

  • Feedback – which includes observations, opinions, suggestions, or recommendations about how we are doing as a church, including how we conduct our Sunday services. This may include observations about our lighting or sound levels in our Sunday services, or a suggestion about how a group is run, or an idea for setting up a new group, for example.  
  • We consider feedback to be helpful as it is fantastic for measuring the engagement level of our community. However, this feedback is better obtained through specific means such as through our Church surveys, or focused feedback sessions.  
  • It is important for us to differentiate complaints from feedback so we can process genuine complaints in accordance with this policy.  
  • This policy is not intended to be used for raising safeguarding concerns regarding allegations of abuse against children and/or adults at risk of harm at The C3 Church events or by staff, volunteers or licensed senior pastors.  All safeguarding concerns should be directed to the Safeguarding Co-Ordinator at safeguarding@thec3.uk. Any complaint received that contains a safeguarding concern will be dealt with in accordance with our Safeguarding Policy. 
  • This policy is not intended to be used for more serious matters that would fall under our Whistleblowing Policy. 
  • The policy is not intended for dealing with employed team complaints or concerns relating to their work, or to serving team in relation to their serving. These matters would fall under our Grievance Procedure. 
  • The policy is not intended for dealing with Academy student complaints or concerns relating to their enrolment in the Academy. These matters would be dealt with in accordance with the Academy Handbook.  

 5. How to raise a concern 

We believe that it is best to follow the Scriptural principles of reconciling differences wherever possible before resorting to this formal complaint process and would encourage you to do this in the first instance. This may involve: 

If you are unhappy about any aspect of a ministry within The C3 Church, please speak to the local or global ministry lead or the relevant member of staff, or the Sunday team leader, or your C3 group leader. 

If you wish to make a complaint about an individual in The C3 Church, we would encourage you to try to speak to him or her directly, ideally with another person with you to act as a witness. If, for any reason, you feel this is difficult or inappropriate then please speak to your C3 group leader or a member of the leadership staff team. 

We believe that these discussions are likely to lead to an immediate response, and hopeful resolution and/or action being taken to improve the situation.  

We recognise that, from time to time, there may be occasions when there will be no alternative but to resort to a formal complaint. This formal procedure should only be instigated when attempts to resolve the issue informally have failed or where, due to the nature of the complaint, it is not appropriate to address it with the person concerned. 

You can raise a formal concern by competing our online Raise a Concern Form. If you have difficulty in accessing this Form online you can email complaints@thec3.uk or write to Complaints, The C3 Church, The C3 Centre, 2 Brooks Road, Cambridge, CB1 3HR marking your letter Private & Confidential and assistance will be given in completing the Form.  

The Form requires you to provide as much detail as possible to enable your complaint to be fully understood and investigated, where appropriate. It also requires you to provide your contact details so we can keep you updated on how your complaint will be handled.  

On receiving your complaint, we will acknowledge it so you know we’ve received it. We will look into the circumstances and if it is appropriate to do so we will let you know what we have found and what action we have taken to remedy the issue. Please bear in mind that for sensitivity and/or legal and compliance reasons we may not always be able to tell you what our findings are or what action we have taken in response to a complaint. We will however always look into complaints that are made and are committed to taking the appropriate action in the circumstances. 

 

6. What if you are not happy with our response to your complaint? 

We take complaints seriously, and we respond to them as thoroughly as possible. If you remain concerned that your complaint has not been dealt with satisfactorily, you can ask for it to be escalated to the Trustees.  

In addition, The C3 Church is a UK-registered charity and in the event of a serious complaint you may also escalate your complaint to the Charity Commission. Information about the kind of complaints the Charity Commission can involve itself in can be found on their website at: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-charity. 

7. Our commitment  

When handling a complaint, we are committed to:  

  • Provide a complaints procedure that is easily accessible, easy to follow and understand 
  • Where possible, acknowledging complaints within 5 working days and where appropriate, responding within 20 working days 
  • Clearly communicating at each stage of the resolution process 
  • Listening, learning and understanding. 
  • Improving and moving forwards. 
  • Constructive and encouraging conversations. 
  • To resolve complaints in a timely fashion and in the process aim to rebuild any trust or relationship lost. 
  • Respecting our Church community  

We will not deal with complaints that are of an abusive, bullying or destructive nature towards The C3 Church or a team member. We will not reprocess a complaint that has already been resolved or a complaint that is made anonymously. 

8. Monitoring and learning from complaints 

All formal complaints and responses made to The C3 Church will be recorded and filed in a secure place in accordance with our Data Protection Policy. 

Complaints are reviewed annually to identify any trends which may indicate a need to take further action.