PART 10COMPLAINTS, REPRESENTATIONS AND ADVOCACY SERVICES
CHAPTER 1COMPLAINTS AND REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT SOCIAL SERVICES
172Complaints about social services: supplementary
1
The following are further examples of the provision which may be made in regulations under section 171.
2
The regulations may make provision about—
a
the persons who may make a complaint;
b
the complaints which may, or may not, be made;
c
the persons to whom complaints may be made;
d
complaints which need not be considered;
e
the period within which complaints must be made;
f
the procedure to be followed in making and considering a complaint;
g
matters which are excluded from consideration;
h
the making of a report or recommendations about a complaint;
i
the action to be taken as a result of a complaint.
3
The regulations may—
a
require a person about whom, or a body about which, a complaint is made to make a payment in relation to the consideration of the complaint under the regulations,
b
require a payment of that kind—
i
to be made to a person or body specified in the regulations, and
ii
to be of an amount specified in, or calculated or determined under, the regulations, and
c
require an independent panel to review the amount chargeable under paragraph (a) in a particular case and, if the panel thinks fit, to substitute a lesser amount.
4
The regulations may require a person who, or a body which, considers complaints under the regulations to give publicity to the procedures to be followed under the regulations.
5
The regulations may also—
a
provide for different parts or aspects of a complaint to be treated differently;
b
require the production of information or documents to enable a complaint to be properly considered;
c
authorise the disclosure of information or documents relevant to a complaint to a person who, or a body which, is considering a complaint under the regulations or to whom a complaint has been referred (despite any rule of common law that would otherwise prohibit or restrict the disclosure).
6
The regulations may make provision about complaints which raise both matters falling to be considered under the regulations and matters falling to be considered under other statutory complaints procedures; including (among other things) provision to—
a
enable a complaint of that kind to be made under the regulations, and
b
secure that matters falling to be considered under other statutory complaints procedures are treated as if they had been raised in a complaint made under the appropriate procedures.
7
In subsection (6) “statutory complaints procedures” means procedures established by or under an enactment within the legislative competence of the National Assembly for Wales.