Conflict and Dispute Mediation
The Compact is not legally binding, but its principles have been officially adopted by the organisations that have signed up to it.
Situations may arise however where you feel that an organisation you work with has not worked in a Compact compliant way or has broken a specific Compact commitment.
The Bucks Compact states that, "As far as possible, disagreements over the application of the framework should be resolved between the parties ...”
The Buckinghamshire Compact Steering Group recommends that organisations in dispute should initially attempt to resolve an issue through discussions between the nominated Compact representatives of each organisation.
If this is not successful the next step is to make a complaint to the organisation involved. All public sector and most voluntary sector organisations have an official “Complaints Procedure”. It’s important that you use this procedure to make sure your complaint is dealt with properly. The basis of a complaints procedure is to firstly decide whether the complaint is justified. If it is and a mistake has been made, action to remedy the situation can then be agreed. The root cause of the problem can then be reviewed to try to prevent the error happening again.
If you are still unhappy about the outcome you may want to enter into a mediation process. Further information and advice is available from the National Council of Voluntary Organisations’ (NCVO) Compact Advocacy Programme.
If your dispute is with a local government organisation you may also make a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will only deal with complaints that have been investigated by the relevant authority first.
If you’re a voluntary sector organisation and would like further advice please contact Community Impact Bucks.
The Compact Steering Group cannot get involved in individual disputes. If a dispute does occur however please let us know via vcs@buckscc.gov.uk so we can monitor proceedings and keep a log of disputes and successes.
