Applicants should write without delay to the Certification Officer setting out the basis of their complaint and identifying which part(s) of the 1992 or 1995 Order, or which union rule(s) have allegedly been breached. A notification of complaint form is available to help applicants provide the Certification Officer with the basic information he will need to make his enquiries: copies can be obtained from the Certification Office or download from the Publications section of this website.Where the notification of complaint form is not used applicants should ensure that their application contains all the details required on the form. If more than one complaint is being made, the grounds for each complaint must be set out separately. Supporting documents and other evidence should be included with details, where appropriate, establishing membership of the union (a copy of the membership card, or the membership number and the name of the member's branch, will normally be sufficient). Applicants who choose the application and/or supporting documentation by electronic means should not assume the Certification Officer has received the documents until they receive confirmation. The Certification Officer reserves the right to ask for any documents in hard copy form, particularly if the document is to be relied on at a hearing. It is the responsibility of the parties to provide the documentation in the form requested by the Certification Officer.
Correspondence by e-mail will be treated in the same way as that received by any other method i.e by letter or fax. All substantive replies from this office will be by post.
Anonymous complaints are not normally acted upon. In exceptional circumstances only, the Certification Officer may make provision to preserve an applicant's anonymity if he considers there are compelling grounds to do so. In the vast majority of cases, however, the union concerned will be entitled to know who is making the complaint and it will be impossible for the application to proceed without disclosing the applicant's name.
It may be necessary for the Office to correspond with the applicant to confirm or establish the exact nature of the complaint being made.Complaints will not normally be put to the union until all matters being complained of have been identified and the applicant has confirmed the wording of the complaints, in writing to the Office. The acceptance of a complaint by the Certification Officer does not indicate any view of the Certification Officer as to its merits.