Complaints procedure.

Complaints procedure.

Ouders & Onderwijs does its best to serve stakeholders well. Still, mistakes can happen or things may not go as agreed. This complaints procedure explains how stakeholders can file a complaint with Ouders & Onderwijs and how the complaint is handled. Besides solving the problem for the complainant, Ouders & Onderwijs uses complaints to improve service quality. 

The complaints procedure has three steps: 

Step 1: discuss the complaint with the person involved 

When a stakeholder has a complaint about the treatment or behaviour of a person acting for Ouders & Onderwijs, the complainant can discuss the complaint with the person concerned. There are no rules for this step. Discussing a complaint with the person involved is the most obvious way to handle a complaint. 

Step 2: submit the complaint to the director of Ouders & Onderwijs 

A stakeholder can also submit a complaint to the director of Ouders & Onderwijs. This comes into play only if step 1 does not solve the problem or if the complainant cannot reasonably be expected to discuss the problem again with the person involved. If a complainant wants to submit a complaint to the director, they can do so by letter or email. Ouders & Onderwijs can be contacted at Groenmarktstraat 56, 3521 AV Utrecht, 088-6050101 or lobke.vlaming@oudersonderwijs.nl. Anonymous complaints are excluded. Complaints about the director’s conduct are submitted to the chair of the board of Ouders & Onderwijs, René Verhulst. 

Every complaint is recorded. The complainant gets a confirmation of receipt and a proposal for handling the complaint within one week. The complaint is handled as soon as possible and at the latest within six weeks. If this is not possible, the complainant is informed. A new deadline is then set. 

The goal is to solve the complaint through mediation. The complaint handling uses the principle of hearing both sides. The outcome is recorded and shared in writing with the complainant and the person concerned. 

Step 3: file the complaint with the complaints committee 

If step 2 does not resolve the complaint satisfactorily, the complainant can submit the complaint to an external complaints committee. This is the National complaints committee education disputes. 

The complaint must be submitted in writing by the complainant, in Dutch, clear and with reasons to the complaints committee, P.O. Box 85191, 3508 AB Utrecht. It can be reached by phone at 030-2809590. 

The complaint letter must include at least:
a. The name and address of the complainant
b. The name of the staff member of Ouders & Onderwijs involved
c. The date and signature
d. A description of the complaint, behaviour and facts as the complainant sees them
e. A description of the issue for which the staff member of Ouders & Onderwijs was initially contacted. 

If the complaints committee thinks the letter does not meet these demands, it will give the complainant a deadline to fix it. If the complainant does not comply, the committee may decide not to handle the complaint. 

After receiving the complaint, the complaints committee confirms receipt to the complainant. It also gives information about the complaint process. The rules of the national complaints committee education apply to the complaint handling. 

The complaints committee will decide within three weeks after the complaint is filed or after the complainant has fixed a problem, whether it will handle the complaint. If not, it will explain why to the complainant. 

When the complaints committee decides to handle the complaint, it will notify the complainant, the director of Ouders & Onderwijs and the staff member involved in writing. It will invite the staff member to send a reply to the committee. The committee will also send the staff member a copy of the complaint and related documents. 

The complaints committee will give a written reply within four weeks (with a possible extension of four weeks) to the complainant and the staff member. For the time frames the complaints committee uses when handling a complaint, see the rules of the national complaints committee education. 

A complaint ends when the complainant withdraws it or by an advice of the complaints committee. The committee notifies the staff member involved directly of the complaint’s end. 

Ouders & Onderwijs keeps a record of all complaints. The related documents are archived after handling. Ouders & Onderwijs takes any measures it finds necessary after complaints. 

Only Dutch law applies to the complaint and this procedure. Any disputes about this procedure or its handling are solved only by the Dutch court.