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Complaints procedures for
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
| General
Comment- |
The main providers
of FCO services to the public are as follows:
General FCO
Consular
Divisions
Visa Unit
Corporate Performance
Unit
Each of these have their own complaints procedures (you can click on the
links above to view them) which you should refer. The broad procedures
outlined below are valid for all of them. If your complaint regards general
policy issues you are advised to express your views to the Minister or
to your MP. If you want to air your views on policy why not use our Open
Forum facility to post a message or opinion for others to see and
respond to.
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| Step
1 - |
Local Resolution
1: You are advised to complain to the individual or department relevant
to your complaint directly.
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| Step
2 - |
Local Resolution
2: Your next step is to contact the head of the relevant department
or the complaints officer and refer your complaint to her/him.
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| Step
3 - |
Authorities:
If you remain unhappy with your treatment by the FCO the remaining option
for resolving your complaint is to ask a MP to refer your complaint to
the Parliamentary Ombudsman for review for complaints against departments
and agencies involved in English matters. For complaints against certain
departments and agencies in Scotland, you can ask your SMP to refer your
case to the Scottish Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. For
complaints against certain departments and agencies in Wales, you can
complain directly to the Welsh Administration Ombudsman. For complaints
against departments and agencies in Northern Ireland, you can complain
to the Northern Ireland Ombudsman via a MLA.
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| Step
4 - |
Court: Failing
all else you can still go to court to resolve your dispute. Details of
small claims court and other procedures are given in the Legal Section
of this site. You can also contact the Community Legal Service (justask.org.uk)
that gives access to free advice. Otherwise your local Citizens' Advice
Bureau will give you advice and will sometimes organise free legal representation
for you.
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If you are at all unsure
about any of these steps or would like further information please use the list
of Information links given below. If you click on the icon the relevant site will open a new window.
Links to Information
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The National Association
of Citizens' Advice Bureaux site |
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The FCO
website. |
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The Parliamentary
Ombudsman website. This includes links to the Scottish Parliament Commissioner
for Administration and the Welsh Administration Ombudsman (in both English
and Welsh). |
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Northern Ireland Ombudsman |
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The UK Office of the
European Parliament site where you can find your MEP and his/her contact
details. |
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UKonline - the open
government web site |
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The European Omdusman
site. The European Ombudsman deals with complaints about the EU Institutions. |
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