BBC to speed up complaints process

Sir Michael Lyons

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The BBC Trust will reveal plans to speed up how editorial complaints are dealt with later this week.

On Wednesday (31 October) the Trust will publish its proposals for how the BBC handles all complaints. It wants editorial complaints to be responded to as soon after broadcast or publication as possible.

It can currently take more than a year for some complaints about editorial matters to reach the Trust, meaning that, in some cases, a second series of a programme may have started before a complaint on a first series has been resolved.

The Trust will also propose to extend the public’s right of appeal to the Trust in serious cases of complaint about how the licence fee is collected.

For the first time, the Trust plans to hear appeals where there are considered serious cases of complaint about how the licence fee is collected.

These could include appeals from members of the public who have received a number of letters or house calls after they believe they have demonstrated they already possess a television licence or do not own a television set.

The Trust is also inviting people to give their views on how the BBC and the Trust handle fair trading complaints.

BBC Trust vice chair Chitra Bharucha said: "The BBC is owned by the people who pay for it and the Trust wants to ensure that complaints are received via a system which is open to everyone, consistent in its fairness to all, and simple to follow.

“For any complaints system to be effective, it must have the confidence of those who might choose to use it and the Trust wants to hear from the public and the rest of the industry about the changes we propose to speed up and simplify the BBC's complaints systems.”

A three-month period of consultation will begin on Wednesday following the publication of the proposals and the Trust expects to finalise and publish the new complaints procedure in spring 2008.