UKGC issues advice on how to handle customers' complaints after review of its policies

The UK Gambling Commission published Thursday a set of tips on how to handle complaints, with the intention to remind licensees of existing rules and guidance. The new advice follows a review of complaints policies that found a number of areas for improvement.

The Commission has now completed a review of 34 licensee complaints policies, from a range of sectors, and looked at how accessible and easy they were to use. This work was referenced in the UKGC’s 2021/22 business plan to “explore how to improve how licensees deal with consumers when things go wrong.”

Additionally, the work is also set to complement the Government’s review of the Gambling Act, which includes looking at how to improve consumer redress arrangements in the gambling industry, the UKGC said in a statement. The White Paper on gambling review has recently been pushed back for the fourth time after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s resignation.

“Our data publication Understanding consumer complaints highlighted that 8% of gamblers had ever made a complaint,” the Commission said on Thursday. “A further 4% reported that they wanted to make a complaint but didn’t. Our qualitative research explored some possible reasons for this, one of which included the perception that it is a tedious process, and that the licensee may be purposefully difficult to reach.”

While most of the policies the UKGC reviewed met “the basic requirements imposed on gambling licenses,” the Commission found there were still areas where licensees could make improvements in their complaints handling. “This will help make the process easier and more accessible for consumers,” the regulator stated.

Ian Angus, Director of Policy at the Commission, said: “Good complaints handling is vital in the gambling industry. We want consumers to be able to easily find and understand policies and be able to raise their complaints without any barriers.”

“We know gambling businesses receive around 200,000 complaints every year, and while the Government’s review of the Gambling Act will consider where these can be escalated to, the majority will still need to go through the licensee’s complaints process first,” he added. “We want to help them handle these well, to improve outcomes for both them and consumers."

The Commission has written the following tips to help licensees improve their complaint handling:

• Include a link to your complaints procedure on your homepage
• Use plain English and avoid jargon or legalese
• Have a short and clear process for complaints
• Tell people what information you need to investigate their complaint
• Include details of the 8-week time limit for resolving complaints or issuing a final response
• Be clear when you have given a final decision or reached ‘deadlock’
• Include clickable links and check that they work
• Utilize technology, such as webforms and decision-trees, to help guide people through the complaints process but always have alternative methods of contact available
• Be accessible for all, including vulnerable people, and make adjustments where required
• Keep a virtual paper-trail
• Utilize Resolver and other consumer support tools
• Provide clear signposting to ADR providers

The UKGC says it has also reminded licensees of their requirements around complaints handling under social responsibility code 6 of the Commission’s License conditions and codes of practice, and signposted to the guidance on Complaints and disputes: procedural, information provision and reporting requirements.

For further details, the UKGC encourages licensees to view the full guide on Good practice complaints handling: tips for licensees.