The Future Generations Commissioner is committed to acting in the interests of future generations, in line with the Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015, by advising, encouraging and promoting the way public bodies work towards the Act’s well-being goals and consider the five ways of working. The Commissioner is committed to improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales, and as part of that commitment we aim to:

  • Provide an accessible, simple and transparent process for looking into complaints about the service we give
  • Respond quickly to complaints; and
  • Apologise and provide any appropriate redress if we have given poor service

We welcome your feedback, as it helps us to continually improve our service and ensure that problems do not repeat themselves, so please tell us when a problem arrives.

  • How do I complain?
    How do I complain?

    If you are unhappy with:

    •  our service
    • an investigation of an issue you have raised
    •  a decision not to investigate an issue you have raised
    • the outcome of an investigation

    you can use this complaints procedure. You can also use our complaints procedure to complain about other things, for example, you might wish to complain about undue delay in responding to correspondence; or that you feel a member of staff has been rude or unhelpful; or that we have not done what we said we should. If possible you should give the member of staff that has caused you concern the opportunity to deal with your complaint in the first instance.

    Director of Finance and Corporate Governance

    Office of the Future Generations Commissioner
    Market Chambers
    5-7 St Mary Street
    Cardiff CF10 1AT
    Telephone: 029 2167 7400
    Email: contactus@futuregenerations.wales

    Although you can discuss complaints with our staff, we recommend that you make them in writing. You can write your complaint in Welsh or English.

    When you write to us, please tell us your address and phone number; and if you have any communication or additional needs such as large print, please inform us and we will do our best to accommodate them.

    What happens to my complaint?

    The Director of Finance and Corporate Governance (the Director) will deal with your complaint herself. Once you have made a complaint to the Director she will send you an acknowledgement within five working days of receiving your letter or email.

    The Director will give serious consideration to the issues you raise and will investigate as appropriate. The investigation will start at the point that you are sent the acknowledgement.

    If the complaint is about the Director, or the Director has been involved in the matter you are complaining about, a senior member of staff will investigate instead. If the Director decides that your complaint is valid, we will send you an apology in writing, along with details of any other steps we think are necessary in the circumstances, including what we will do to prevent the problem happening again. If the Director decides that your complaint is not valid, we will write to you explaining why.

    We aim to send a full reply to all complaints within 20 working days of the complaint arriving with us. If that is not possible, for example if the matters you raise require more detailed work, we will let you know.

  • Is there a time limit for complaining?
    Is there a time limit for complaining?

    It can be difficult to look into matters which happened some time ago. In general, we would expect you to make any complaint about the service reasonably soon after you become aware of the problem and in any event within twelve months.

  • What if I am not satisfied with the response to my complaint?
    What if I am not satisfied with the response to my complaint?

    You should write again to the Director stating that you wish to appeal to the Commissioner. You should set out as clearly as possible why you are dissatisfied with the response which was made to your complaint.

    The Director will acknowledge your appeal within five working days of receiving it. The Commissioner will personally consider your appeal at that point and will aim to send you a full reply within 20 working days. Again, if this is not possible, we will let you know.

    The Commissioner’s decision is final. We will acknowledge further correspondence from you but, unless this raises new issues that we consider significant, we will not send further substantive replies.

  • Can I appeal the Commissioner’s decision?
    Can I appeal the Commissioner’s decision?

    If you are not happy with the decision of the Commissioner, you may ask the Chair of the independent Audit and Risk Assurance Committee to review her decision.