Complaints Procedure and Internal Review Process

Should you be dissatisfied with any area of the service that you have received from the VCA then please follow the complaints procedure.

If you are dissatisfied with the way the VCA has handled your request for information or with the decisions made in relation to your request, you may request an internal review.

Complaints Procedure

The VCA strives to maintain the highest level of service throughout the agency but recognises that there may be times when this is not achieved. We encourage our customers to bring such instances to our attention so that we can learn from them and continue our ethos of continual improvement.

Should you be dissatisfied with any area of the service that you have received from the VCA then please follow the procedure outlined below.

Step 1 – Local resolution

Initially, please speak to your local VCA contact (i.e.: engineer/auditor etc.) to try to resolve the issue locally.

 

Step 2 – Head of Central Quality independent review

If you feel that your complaint has not been dealt with satisfactorily you should preferably email the Head of Central Quality, (but postal complaints are processed too), who will then formally acknowledge the complaint, allocate a unique VCA reference number, commence an independent investigation, and respond to you directly with the findings.

By E-mail – complaints@vca.gov.uk

By post –

The Head of Central Quality
Vehicle Certification Agency
No 1 The Eastgate Office Centre
Eastgate Road
Bristol
BS5 6XX
United Kingdom

 

Step 3 – CEO Review

If you feel that your complaint has still not been dealt with satisfactorily by the VCA Head of Central Quality, you should contact:

By E-mail – complaints@vca.gov.uk (please mark for the attention of the CEO)

By post –

The Chief Executive Officer
Vehicle Certification Agency
No 1 The Eastgate Office Centre
Eastgate Road
Bristol
BS5 6XX
United Kingdom

You should provide full details of your complaint, including the unique VCA reference number, and copies of the responses that you have received so far.

 

Step 4 – Independent Complaints Assessor (ICA)

You can ask us to pass your complaint to the ICA if you have been through Step 3 and are not happy with the response. The VCA can refer a complaint to the ICA at any stage.

Follow this link for more information on referral of a complaint to the Independent Complaints Assessor (ICA).

 

Step 5 – Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)

The VCA’s complaints procedure does not affect your right to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).

More details can be obtained by writing to:

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

 

Freedom of Information (FOI) / Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) Internal Review Process

If you are unhappy with the way VCA has handled your request for information or with the decisions made in relation to your request, you may request an internal review to an FOI or EIR response.

Step 1 – Request an Internal Review

A request for an Internal Review should be made within two calendar months of response of your request for information by writing to the VCA FOI Advice team.

By E-mail – foi.user@vca.gov.uk

By post –

The FOI Advice TEAM
Vehicle certification Agency
No 1 The Eastgate Office Centre
Eastgate Road
Bristol
BS5 6XX

Upon receipt of the request the team will retrieve the case file, record that the case is under internal review and pass the ‘Internal Review’ request to the VCA, Head of Central Quality who handles the Complaints process within the VCA.

The Head of Central Quality will then log the case, issue an acknowledgement detailing the expected target date of response and ask the Chief Executive Officer to appoint a senior independent official to conduct the review.

The  senior independent official will conduct their own review. You will be advised of the outcome of the appeal and if a decision is taken to disclose information originally withheld, this will be done as soon as possible, usually within 20 days. More complex cases may take up to 40 days in line with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) guidance.

 

Step 2 – Complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO)

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision.

By post –

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

 

How to make a Data Protection complaint

Data protection law requires the VCA to make appropriate enquiries when a person complains to us about how we:

• have looked after their personal data
• responded to a ‘rights’ request they made, such as a data subject access rights request (DSAR)

While we take our obligations under data protection law seriously and have numerous controls in place to ensure that breaches or other compliance failings do not occur, sometimes things still go wrong. If that happens, and you personally are affected, we want to make it easy for you to complain to us in the way that best suits you.

In handling your complaint, the VCA will:

• send you an acknowledgement within the legally required maximum 30 days from receipt, although note that we usually acknowledge correspondence within 5 working days
• get back to you as soon as possible if we need you to clarify your complaint
• make appropriate enquiries into your complaint
• let you know the outcome of your complaint, normally within 30 days of receipt
• if we need longer than 30 days, we will let you know about our progress and when we expect to respond in full

Step 1 – Local resolution

The easiest way to make a complaint to the VCA is to send an email to: dpa@vca.gov.uk

You may want to use the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) template to write this email.

Or you can write to:

Data Protection Team
Vehicle Certification Agency,
No 1 The Eastgate Office Centre
Eastgate Road
Bristol
BS5 6XX
United Kingdom

In some cases, we may require proof of your identity before we can investigate your complaint. If so, we will let you know without delay, usually at the same time as acknowledging your complaint.

If a third party is making the complaint on your behalf, we will need to see a suitable and verifiable signed authority from you before we can proceed with your complaint.

If you need clarification on any information we provide when you receive our response, let us know. Data protection law requires us to be accountable for how we use your personal data. It is important to us that our response is clear.

Step 2 – Complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO)

If you remain dissatisfied with our response, you have the right to report your complaint to the ICO.

By post –

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

For further information about how your personal data will be used when we handle your complaint, see the privacy notice below.

 

Privacy notice

The personal data you provide will be used only in relation to the handling of your complaint.

Your data will be held for up to 4 years and then deleted.

Find out more about the VCA’s Privacy Policy