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Thread: I don't know a lot about running a political party but I do know a bit about complaints handling. Here are some thoughts on how our procedures should work. Firstly I think @JennieGenSec has made a great start and much of this might be being set up already but here goes..
All complaints should be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. All accusations should be treated as good faith. Anyone accused should be considered innocent until proven guilty. These aren't contradictory.
Suspension should not be used as a punishment. It should be used to remove someone from any position where their work might be affected if the accusation is found to be true or for safeguarding etc. Punishment should be reserved for after an investigation if wrong doing is found.
Accusations should be acknowledged within two days and investigations concluded within a month except in rare cases. Pressure from the media to take action should be ignored and was a huge factor in almost every major miscarriage of justice in recent British legal history.
Complaints must be confidential and anyone found to be leaking confidential party information not protected by whistleblowing policies should be punished to the full extent of internal party procedures and the law.
Anonymised reports on all complaints should be made public to ensure that the process is as fair and transparent as possible while still protecting confidentiality.
The complaints procedure must be as independent as possible to remove political considerations from verdicts and restore trust. It must be protected to reach unpopular or politically inconvenient conclusions if the evidence supports that.
It must avoid using vague catch all terms like 'bringing the party into disrepute' which should be replaced with a proper detailed code of conduct that allows protects members and others while being politically neutral.
And there should be a proper independent appeals procedure. If possible a sort of cross party ombudsmen who can rule on all party procedures.
