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Hamilton Citizens Advice Bureau Fundraising Complaints Policy

  • 25 June 2025

Fundraising Complaints Policy

Every year the Citizens Advice service helps millions of people with their problems. Each Citizens Advice Bureau is an independent charity and part of the Citizens Advice network in Scotland. 

Citizens Advice Scotland is the umbrella organisation that provides support to bureaux, including training, policy and IT. 

We are committed to excellent fundraising which is open, honest and respectful, and you can read more about that in our fundraising policy (link to one on website?). If you feel we have not lived up to that commitment, we always welcome feedback and complaints so that we can learn and improve. 

How to make a complaint about fundraising

To make sure that all complaints are handled efficiently and fairly, there is a complaints procedure that must be followed.

Tell the bureau or Citizens Advice Scotland that you are unhappy and you want to complain so that they can try to put things right. You should first raise your complaint with either:

  • The Citizens Advice Bureau that carried out the fundraising, or
  • Citizens Advice Scotland for national fundraising campaigns or activities.

Your complaint will be treated seriously and in confidence.

If the issue is about fundraising carried out by a Citizens Advice Bureau, you should contact the Chief Officer or Chair of the bureau. You can do this in person, by phone or in writing.

The contact details of the bureau are likely to be included within the fundraising communication, or you can find the contact details for the bureau by searching the postcode at https://www.cas.org.uk/bureaux.

Your complaint will be investigated by the Chief Officer under the direction of the Chair of the bureau, or by the Chair if you are complaining about the Chief Officer. If it is upheld, you will get an apology and, where appropriate, be given details of any action that the bureau is taking to put things right.

The bureau will aim to respond in full to your complaint in 20 working days. However, if the issue is complicated, it may take longer. You will be kept informed of the progress of your complaint.

If you are not happy with the Chief Officer’s response, you can request a review by the Chair.

If the issue relates to fundraising carried out by Citizens Advice Scotland you can:

  • Write to Citizens Advice Scotland, 2 Powderhall Road, Edinburgh, EH7 4GB
  • Email [email protected]

If the fundraising was carried out by a bureau and not Citizens Advice Scotland, your complaint will be shared with the Citizens Advice Bureau that carried out the fundraising.

Your complaint will be investigated. Citizens Advice Scotland will aim to respond in full to your complaint in 20 working days. However, if the issue is complicated, it may take longer. You will be kept informed of the progress of your complaint.

If you are not happy with the response, you can request a further review. You will be provided with details on how to do this. This review will be conducted under the direction of the Trustees.

If your complaint is not upheld by Citizens Advice Scotland or the bureau that handled the fundraising and you are not satisfied and want to progress further, you may raise the matter with the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel.

Complainants must only raise issues with the Adjudication Panel after they have been raised with charities and their trustees directly. The Panel will require evidence that the complainant has reached out to both the charity and its trustees before they will review and act on a complaint.