Regulation 5 Time limit for presenting a complaint
The person making the complaint must present the complaint to the Commissioner in accordance with regulation 4 (requirements as to the form and content of complaint) within 12 months from the date on which the matter to which the complaint relates took place (or started to take place).
A complaint under these Regulations is taken to have been presented—
if sent by electronic communication, on the day of transmission; and
if sent by post in an envelope which is properly addressed to the Commissioner’s published address for SBC complaints scheme purposes and sent by prepaid post, on the day on which it is posted.
Where in the opinion of the Commissioner it is fair and reasonable to do so, the time limit set out in paragraph (1) may be extended in any of the following circumstances—
where the Commissioner considers that the complaint was not made within the time limit set out in paragraph (1) because of the physical or mental incapacity of the person making the complaint or a member of staff of that person;
where the person against whom the complaint is made has given consent to the extension of the time limit;
where—
the matter to which the complaint relates has previously been the subject of legal proceedings which have been discontinued before a determining judgment was made; or
the matter to which the complaint relates has previously been the subject of adjudication proceedings (other than where the complaint is excluded from the SBC complaints scheme by section 4(5)(c) or (d) of the 2016 Actf1) which have been discontinued before a determination was made; and
in either case, the person making the complaint has acted promptly after the discontinuation of those proceedings in presenting it to the Commissioner;
where in the Commissioner’s view, the main reason the complaint was not made within the time limit is because the person making it and the person against whom it is made have agreed a resolution to the complaint but that resolution has not been satisfactorily put into effect; or
where, in the Commissioner’s view, there is information to suggest that the person against whom the complaint is made has acted with the intention of ensuring the time limit in paragraph (1) was exceeded.
Where the complaint or part of the complaint is not made within the time limit set out in paragraph (1), the Commissioner must not entertain the complaint.
Annotations
Footnotes
- f1
-
Section 4(5)(c) of the 2016 Act provides that a complaint is excluded from the SBC complaints scheme if it falls within the jurisdiction of an ombudsman, regulator or public authority (other than the Commissioner, a court or a tribunal) and section 4(5)(d) of the 2016 Act provides that a complaint is excluded from the SBC complaints scheme if the complainant has a statutory right to refer the complaint for adjudication by a person other than a court or tribunal.