At Conference, members will have the chance to approve updated rules to the party’s Independent Complaints process.

These changes are informed by feedback from complainants, respondents and people involved at all stages of the complaints process over the last few years.

They aim to clarify parts of the process that were unclear, simplify much of the language used and ensure that the Complaints process is well-run.

But we appreciate that reading two extremely long documents to compare for changes is an arduous task – and often won’t explain why we made many of the changes.

We also appreciate that most members maybe don’t live and breathe the minutiae of the party’s Complaints Process, like the Disciplinary Sub-Group do.

So, to help make the changes more understandable and explain why, we’ve produced a video that explains both the process as a whole and this latest round of changes to it.

You can watch that here:

If you prefer to read a written guide to the changes, please click on this link to find an Explanatory document, written by our excellent Standards Office: https://www.libdems.org.uk/complaints-procedure/proposed-changes

This most likely won’t be the last time members are asked to approve changes to the Complaints process. We are constantly learning, updating and striving to improve the process!

And of course, if you have any ideas on how we can make the Complaints process more effective, efficient, or easier to understand (and of course any other feedback!) please don’t hesitate to email us on [email protected].

See you in York!

* Candy Piercy is Chair of the DSG (the Disciplinary Sub Group of the Federal Board) The DSG are responsible for ensuring the independence, effectiveness and efficiency of Complaints Process, raising awareness of how it works and training our volunteers. However, we have no involvement in or indeed knowledge of any live cases, or in any of the decisions made by the Senior Adjudicators team or the decisions made by the Independent Panels of Volunteer Adjudicators.