Make a complaint to the Independent Examiner of Complaints

The Independent Examiner of Complaints (IEC) is a new independent complaint investigation service for people who are unhappy with the Home Office’s final response to a complaint.

Find out about the IEC

The Independent Examiner of Complaints is Moi Ali. Moi has a background in independent complaints review. Previously she served as:

• chair of the Independent Complaints Review Panel at Postwatch
• Scotland’s first Judicial Complaints Reviewer
• a review body member in the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office

She has also had a role in overseeing complaints about senior police officers. For the last 4 years she has been the Independent Assessor of Complaints for the Crown Prosecution Service and she continues in that part-time role.

Moi is passionate about providing a genuinely independent service, and about helping organisations to identify learning and wider lessons from complaints in order to improve their service.

Her approach is to understand the complainant journey and perspective, and to support staff to provide a complainant-centric service, while maintaining her impartiality.

The role of the IEC

The IEC is not a civil servant or Home Office employee. They are an independent post holder, appointed under contract. This allows them to make fully independent decisions based on the merits of each complaint on a case-by-case basis.

The Office for the Independent Examiner of Complaints reviews complaints about the Home Office for people who are unhappy with how their complaint has been handled.

We will look at whether the Home Office has worked in-line with its own procedures and guidance .

When to contact us

We can only look at your complaint if:

• you have received a final response to your complaint, that explains you can bring it to the Office for the IEC if you are unhappy with the outcome
• you contact us within three months of receiving the final complaint response

Complaints we can look at

We look at complaints about these business areas:

• UK Visas and Immigration
• Immigration Enforcement
• Border Force
• Detention and Escorting Service
• HM Passport Office

Your complaint may be about

• a delay or error
• poor service, advice, or information
• a failure to follow the correct procedures

Complaints we cannot look at

We are unable to look at complaints:

• about Home Office decisions that carry review or appeal rights
• about Home Office policy or legislation
• that are, or have been investigated by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
• about how the Home Office has acted as an employer
• that are, or have been the subject of judicial review or other court proceedings
• which fall under the remit of the Windrush Compensation Scheme
• about serious misconduct which are being reviewed by the Professional Standards Unit
• about the Home Office’s compliance with data protection regulations

How to make a complaint

You can make a complaint to the Office for the Independent Examiner of Complaints if you are unhappy with the Home Office’s final response to your complaint.

You can download this form and email it to us or print it and post it back to us.

Or you can complain to us in writing or by phone using the contact details below.

Email: iec@homeoffice.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 071 5679 between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

If you have not yet made a complaint to the relevant business area, you can do so using the below links:

• UK Visas and Immigration
• Immigration Enforcement
• Border Force
• Detention and Escorting Service DEScomplaints@homeoffice.gov.uk
• HM Passport Office

How we will handle your complaint

The Office for the Independent Examiner of Complaints (IEC) has a clear process for handling your complaint.

Registering your complaint

When we receive your complaint, our Business Support Team will:

• register your complaint
• decide if we can look at your complaint

We may ask you for more information. This may include a copy of the business’s final response to your complaint.

If we cannot look at your complaint, we will let you know why, within 5 working days of receiving your complaint.

If you have not yet made a complaint to the relevant business area, you can do so by contacting them .

If you have received a final response to your complaint, we will contact you within 5 working days of receiving your complaint to:

• agree the elements of complaint we can look at
• ask what you think needs to be done to put things right
• ask you to explain how any service failures have affected you

Resolving your complaint

Once the elements of complaint have been agreed with you, we may try to resolve your complaint using the information you have given us.

This may include asking the business to take action to put matters right.

We will only resolve a complaint if you agree the action the business has agreed to take puts matters right for you. If so, we will send you a resolution closure letter.

We aim to complete the cases that can be resolved within 20 working days of you agreeing the elements of the complaint.

If we cannot resolve your complaint, we will ask you and the business for more information.

Once we have all the information we need, your complaint will be ready to allocate to an investigator. All complaints are allocated in strict date order.

We will contact you to let you know when your complaint has been allocated to an investigator.

Settling your complaint

Once we have looked at all the information provided by you and the business, we may try and settle your complaint if it is clear what went wrong and what needs to be done to put matters right.

This may include the business giving you an apology or financial redress.

We will only settle a complaint if you agree the action the business has agreed to take puts matters right for you. If so, we will send you a settlement closure letter.

We aim to complete the cases we settle within 30 working days of your complaint being allocated to an investigator.

Investigation report

If we cannot settle your complaint, the investigator will document the facts of your case and the Independent Examiner of Complaints (IEC) will decide whether to uphold your complaint and if any recommendations for redress are needed.

You will receive an investigation report which explains the outcome of your complaint.

We aim to complete the cases that result in an IEC investigation report within 60 working days of the complaint being allocated to an investigator.

If you disagree with the outcome of our investigation or the content of the investigation report, you can contact us about it .

If the business does not act on our recommendations within the given timeframe, you can contact us about it .

What you can expect from us

We will:

• treat you with respect and courtesy
• look at your complaint in a fair and open way
• be clear about our process
• keep in contact with you

What we expect from you

We expect you to:

• treat our staff with respect and courtesy
• give us correct and relevant information about your complaint
• let us know of any reasonable adjustments you may need

Unacceptable behaviour

We know that having an unresolved complaint can be frustrating, and that you may be stressed or annoyed when you contact us. However, we have to consider the safety and wellbeing of our staff.

We may change the way we communicate with you, if:

• your behaviour to our staff is abusive, offensive or threatening
• your contact with us becomes unmanageable

Complaints about the IEC

If you are unhappy about the service we have provided, the attitude or behaviour of a member of staff, or if you are unhappy with the IEC investigation findings, you can complain to us in writing or verbally.

We will first try to resolve your complaint, for example, by giving an update or explanation. If you are still unhappy, your concerns will be registered as a formal complaint.

You can make a complaint at any point of the IEC process, including after your case has closed.

You can make your complaint in writing or by phone, using the contact details below.

Email: iec@homeoffice.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 071 5679 between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

In making a complaint, you can appoint a representative to act on your behalf, if you wish to do so.

Complaints about our service or the behaviour of a member of staff

We will consider your complaint and give you a full response, usually within 15 working days. If we are unable to do so, we will let you know when we hope to be able to give you a final response.

We will reply to your complaint in writing unless we have agreed a reasonable adjustment with you.

If you are unhappy with the outcome, we will explain how to escalate your complaint or signpost you to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Complaints about the outcome of an investigation report

We will consider complaints about the outcome of an investigation report if they are made within 3 months of the report being sent to you.

You must provide new evidence that has not already been considered or show that there are factual errors in the report.

We will reply to your complaint in writing, and explain how you can escalate it to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) or the Prisons and Probation Service Ombudsman if you are unhappy with the outcome of your complaint.

Learning from complaints

We work hard to make sure that we learn from customer feedback. This helps us to improve the service we provide to all our customers.

Contact us

You can contact us in writing or by phone, using the contact details below.

Email: iec@homeoffice.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 071 5679 between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.