Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Complaints Procedure definition

What does Complaints Procedure mean? The complaints procedure is a pension scheme’s internal process for receiving, investigating and deciding grievances from members, prospective members, beneficiaries and dependants about their pension rights or scheme administration. Across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, occupational pension schemes must operate an Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) under pensions legislation. In Ireland, a comparable Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) process is required under the Pensions Act. The term “complaints procedure” is a descriptive label for these statutory mechanisms. Key features typically include: a one‑ or two‑stage review (commonly administrator at stage one and trustees at stage two), eligibility rules, submission and...

NHS Complaints in England: Procedure, Legislation, Duty of Candour, Local Resolution, Ombudsman Review, Mediation, Private Patient Issues and CQC Functions — A Practical Guide for Solicitors

Published by a LexisNexis PI & Clinical Negligence expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note addresses the NHS complaints process, the governing legislation, local Resolution and Ombudsman-led independent review, matters relating to private patients, and the Care Quality Commission.

The NHS Complaints Procedure

Often, what patients want most is a clear explanation of any failings, a sincere apology, and a commitment that similar errors will not recur, which can outweigh a desire for compensation.

Grievances may involve misdiagnosis, poor communication by clinicians, delays, inaccurate or Misleading advice, and numerous other examples of substandard care or absence of treatment.

The NHS complaints route should be the initial step. Without good reason, failure to use it first may result in Legal aid or Before the Event (BTE) funding being refused.

The scheme applies to concerns about services delivered by, or paid for by, NHS organisations or primary care practitioners—namely hospitals, GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacists.

There are two stages to the process:

local resolution
independent review

If financial compensation is required, a patient should seek advice from a reputable clinical negligence solicitor, as financial redress is not generally available through the complaints route...

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Andrew Ritchie , KC

9 Gough Chambers

Described as approachable, dependable, a classy team player, hard on the issues and hard working, Andrew has enormous experience in fatal accident claims, occupational health litigation, especially mesothelioma claims, employers liability litigation generally (for example Corr v IBC, the suicide case, HL) and road traffic and insurance law (for instance Rafiq v MIB, CA).Andrew writes 9 chapters of the leading Personal Injury text Kemp & Kemp on Quantum including the fatal accidents chapter.Many of Andrew's reported cases concern catastrophic injury claims involving brain damage, spinal injury and PTSD (he represented many victims of the Paddington rail disaster). Andrew's Clinical Negligence practice covers in particular Hypoxia at birth, Urology, Cardiology and neurosurgery.Andrew also represents medical professionals before regulatory and disciplinary tribunals and also has considerable experience in professional negligence work arising from personal injury litigation....

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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