Complaints
Recording a Regulation 39 complaint or representation: who raised it, how it was handled, the outcome, and whether the young person was told.
A complaint is anything a young person, a parent or a professional raises as being wrong. Regulation 39 requires the home to have a way of hearing them and of showing what happened next.
Record it even when it looks small, and especially when it is about you or the team. A complaint that was heard, acted on and fed back is evidence that children are listened to. One that never got written down is nothing at all.
Where it lives
Open the young person's record and go to Complaints, under Safeguarding. Select Log complaint.
What to record
Raised by — Child, Parent / carer, Professional, or Other — and a name if it is relevant.
When received. It defaults to now; change it if you're writing up something from earlier.
Nature of the complaint. What it is actually about, in their words where you have them. Not your view of whether it is justified.
Handler — the staff member dealing with it.
Actions taken — how it was handled, and anything arising.
The risk switch
Indicates a risk or disclosure is the one to think about. Turn it on and ARC says:
Tell the manager / DSL promptly — this may need escalating to a safeguarding concern or incident.
Take that literally. Turning the switch on does not tell anybody. It flags the record; you tell the manager or DSL yourself, and you raise the concern or the incident separately. Same for Escalated to safeguarding — it records that escalation happened, it does not perform it.
The three stages
ARC works the stage out from what you have recorded rather than asking you to set a status:
| Stage | Reached when |
|---|---|
| Received | Logged, not yet picked up |
| Investigating | Acknowledged |
| Resolved | An outcome has been recorded |
Setting the Stage to Resolved opens two more fields: the Outcome, and a switch for The child was told the result.
That second one is the whole point of Regulation 39. A complaint resolved without the young person being told the answer has not been resolved from where they are standing.
Manager sign-off
A manager signs a complaint off once it is Resolved — never before, and never twice. ARC replies "Only a resolved complaint can be signed off." or "This complaint has already been signed off." if either is attempted.
Signed-off complaints show a Signed off badge and the name of the manager who did it.
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