Are there some complaints you don't respond to?

We expect our staff to handle complaints politely at all times. If the person making the complaint uses abusive language or an aggressive tone, we will not engage with this. So if the complaint is made in person, the member of staff may walk away or seek assistance from another staff member. In these circumstances it is unlikely that your complaint will be taken seriously. 

If the complaint is made in writing by letter or via our website and uses abusive language or threats, we will reply but will advise you in our response that this is unacceptable.

We may terminate correspondence about a specific complaint if it is clear that despite our best efforts we are unlikely to satisfy you. If you write to us again about a different issue, it will be treated as a new complaint and replied to.

The decision to terminate correspondence will only be made by a senior manager after making sure that the matter has been investigated thoroughly and in line with our procedures. We will always tell you when we are terminating a complaint and the reason we are doing this.

Complaints will also only be considered if they are received within three months of the time when you were first aware of the situation. We do not handle complaints that date back further than this.

Data protection legislation requires us to only process complaints that come from people who have had direct contact with the RSPCA. It prevents us from corresponding with third parties about complaints. This means that we cannot help you if you would like to complain on behalf of a family member, friend, or someone else, unless you have Power of Attorney