Updated 23 July 2012

What to do if things go wrong

If you think the decision we have made is wrong

If you need more information, please ask us to explain how we have made the decision. If you think the decision we have made is wrong, ask us to look at it again.

In most cases you will be able to appeal to an independent tribunal if you still think the decision is wrong. The letter telling you about our decision will tell you if you can appeal. You can get a leaflet about how to appeal by contacting us, or from the office that paid you the money.

Please contact us within one month of the date of the letter giving you the decision.

If you are not happy with our Customer Service

We work to continuously improve our services and act on feedback and comments. If you think something has gone wrong with the service we provide or we have not met the service standards set out in this document, we want to know so that we can try and put it right.

If you contact us by telephone to discuss our level of customer service, and the advisor feels that they cannot resolve your issue, they may arrange for a Team Manager to contact you to discuss your concerns

If you are still dissatisfied after talking to the Team Manager, your issue will be treated as an official complaint (Tier 1) and referred to Customer Service specialists. A Complaints Resolution Manager will aim to telephone you within 48 hours (working days permitting) to help resolve the problem.

Our complaints procedure

Debt Management’s Complaint Resolution Managers can only deal with complaints against the level of customer service provided by Debt Management. They will not consider matters of law or government policy.

Our complaint procedure is invoked when an objection against the level of service you have received from us is received in writing or when telephone confirmation is received. Debt Management has a 2 stage complaint process.

Tier 1

We aim to respond to your complaint within 15 days of receiving it. We will give you a later response date and let you know why, if we are unable to meet that deadline.

Tier 2

If you are not satisfied with the response to your initial complaint, you will be able to submit your complaint to the Head of Debt Management, who will respond within 15 working days of receiving your complaint at this level.

You will be given details of how to take your complaint to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) in the response you receive from the Head of Debt Management. You may write to the ICE if you feel that your complaint about our level of customer service still has not been dealt with satisfactorily. ICE offers an impartial mediation and review service, which is easily accessible and entirely free, to those whose complaints remain unresolved. ICE also looks at complaints about the customer service we provide but will not consider matters of law or government policy.

If you choose to contact the ICE this must be done within six months of receiving a response from the Head of Debt Management.