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Quarterly customer service complaint outcomes - Quarter 3 October to December 2023

Introduction

SEPA’s Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) is in accordance with the requirements of the Model Complaints Handling Procedure published by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) and requires us to publish a report on complaints outcomes and actions taken to improve services. This report covers the period October 2023 to December 2023 inclusive.

Stage 1 complaints

A total of ten Stage 1 complaints were handled in the reporting period - three were found not upheld, three were resolved by agreement with the complainants, with no requirement for further action. One complaint was withdrawn by the complainant and one anonymous complaint was recorded with no outcome. This is in accordance with CHP protocol and regulatory actions by the relevant local EP team are ongoing to address the issues raised.

Stage 2 complaints

Three Stage 2 complaints were handled within the reporting period - two were found not upheld and one was upheld in part.

The complaint which was upheld in part concerned a customer's dissatisfaction with how SEPA had communicated with them following a report of an environmental incident. The complaint investigation found that the SEPA website doesn't provide customers with a clear explanation of how environmental event reports are risk-assessed for response and in this case the customer's expectations were not met.