A first class service to the public

Two cornerstones of any effective system of regulation are that it is fast and fair – and that those with a grievance know how to access it. To that end, the PCC deals with complaints under the terms of a vigorous Complainants’ Charter, which sets out for those with a grievance five key targets to ensure our service is fair, free and fast. This part of the Annual Review sets out how we measured up to those commitments. A subsequent section – on page 13 – will set out all the initiatives we have taken to ensure that our service is as well known as possible.

Our first commitment: to respond swiftly to enquiries

The PCC receives a huge number of enquiries every year from members of the public about a whole range of issues. Some of them want more information about our service; some need advice about dealing with a newspaper; others want details about our work for their studies. Last year we received 7,250 such requests. Some 28% were received on our dedicated Helpline – including a local Helpline in Scotland – as well as our Textphone (which is used to assist those with a hearing difficulty in making a complaint). Just over 24% were made via e mail and through our website. The remainder – just under half – were to the PCC’s main switchboard (the number of which is listed in all main phone books).

Our aim is to answer all telephone calls within four rings – and we achieved that target in 90% of cases. All e- mails were immediately acknowledged – although some specific requests for detailed information inevitably took longer to deal with.

Our second commitment: to deal with complaints as quickly as we can

While advice on the telephone and via e mail is a large proportion of our work, the main burden of it is of course to process formal complaints. In 2002, all complaints – whether made in writing or submitted by e mail – were acknowledged within three working days of receipt. Throughout the complaints process, complainants were informed of the progress of the complaint every fifteen working days. We aim to deal with all complaints in an average of just forty working days, far quicker than any other similar regulatory body. In 2002, the average time it took to deal with complaints was 32 working days, exactly the same as last year’s record. 85% of all complaints were completed within that target period – compared to a record proportion of 87% in 2001.

Our third commitment: to provide a service without cost

For the vast majority of ordinary people, legal actions – whether against newspapers as indeed against any other organisation – are prohibitively costly. One of the keys to a successful system of regulation with concern about ordinary people at its heart is therefore that it should be free.

As a result of the funding provided by the newspaper and magazine industry, the PCC continues to deal with complaints at no cost either to complainants or taxpayers. Some individuals, of course, seek to make complaints through lawyers, as they are fully entitled to do. Such representation, however, with the costs it entails is not essential. Indeed, if anything, complaints made through lawyers tend to take longer to deal with than complaints made directly by the individuals concerned. In 2002, while the average time to deal with all complaints was 32 working days, complaints made through lawyers took an average of 71 working days – 122% longer. Furthermore, it took an average of 90 working days for a complaint through a lawyer or other representative to be resolved – nearly half as long again as complaints resolved directly with the complainant,
without any difference to the success rate.

Our fourth commitment: to be as accessible as possible

We aim to ensure our service is easy to use, and well known to those who might need it – in particular the most vulnerable in society for whom complaining might well be an ordeal. As set out above, help on the phone or via e mail is easily available – including in cases where individuals may be subject to harassment (see p.9). All callers are told about the Code and, where appropriate, are sent a copy along with a leaflet on How to Complain. (The text of the Code is also on the PCC website, and is available directly from most newspaper offices.) We operate a special Helpline – with a local line in Scotland – as well as a Textphone to assist people who have difficult hearing. For those with visual problems, the Code and information on how to complain is available on audio cassette.

For many people, English is not the first language. We therefore produce information about our services in Urdu, Bengali, Arabic, Chinese and Somali. For the people of Wales, information is available in Welsh – and in Scotland, for an admittedly small but nonetheless important group of people, in Gaelic. A prime source of information for a growing number of people is the Internet, and the PCC maintains a website – www.pcc.org.uk – which covers the Commission’s work and personnel, the Code, past adjudications and information on how to complain. There were 85,000 visitors to the site last year. The way in which the PCC seeks to publicise its services around the country and to different groups is set out on
page 13 of this Review.

Our fifth commitment – to be as open as possible

Transparency is an important part of accountability – and we continue to ensure that our procedures and decisions are as open and clear as possible. The complaints procedure itself is open and straightforward. All correspondence takes place in writing, and both sides to a dispute have the chance to comment on the evidence of the other party.

Decisions of the Commission are published regularly – both via e mail to editors and all those who have expressed an interest in the work of the PCC (over 800 people currently subscribe to the PCC’s news service) and in the form of regular quarterly bulletins which are mailed out to editors, MPs, libraries and other organisations. Where a complainant feels that we have not lived up to any of the commitments in the Charter, they can complain to a Charter Officer who will investigate and make any recommendations necessary for changes to procedure. Even though all complainants are clearly informed about the Charter and how to raise an issue under it, the Charter Officer received only 6 complaints in 2002 – a sign, along with the statistics produced below, that most customers are content with the service they receive from us.

Measuring our success

As set out earlier, the PCC launched a customer satisfaction survey at the start of 2002 to measure the way in which we were living up to complainants’ expectations. All individuals whose complaints were investigated were sent a survey – which they were free to return anonymously – with questions about our service. A total of 616 individuals were surveyed, of whom 347 people responded. The survey results
showed that:

• 94% found the PCC’s printed information either “very clear” or “clear”;
• 85% found the PCC’s staff either “very helpful” or “helpful”;
• 61% thought their complaint was dealt with either “very thoroughly” or “thoroughly”;
• 73% believed the time it took to deal with their complaint was “about right”; and
• 59% said that their complaint had been handled either “very satisfactorily” or “satisfactorily”.