Complaints
If you have a complaint about something The Assize has published, tell us and it will be looked into. This page says who looks into it, what they will do, and by when.
Before you start: three different things
Most of what people want from this site is one of three things, and only one of them is a complaint. Using the right route is faster.
- A figure or a statement is wrong. That is a correction: how to ask for one. No complaint is needed and none is held against you for asking.
- You are named on the site and would rather not be. That is a removal, it is unconditional, and you do not have to give a reason: correct or remove an entry.
- Something published was unfair, intrusive, inaccurate after it was pointed out, or fell short of the standards on this site. That is a complaint, and this page is for it.
How to complain
Email enquiries@assizedata.co.uk, marked “Complaint”, or write to Assize Data Ltd at c/o IWN Accountancy, The Echo Building, 18 Albert Road, Bournemouth, BH1 1BZ, marked “Complaint — Assize News”.
Please include, so far as you can:
- the address of the page or pages;
- what was published that you are complaining about, quoted if possible;
- what you say is wrong with it, and which standard it falls short of;
- how it affects you, if it does;
- how we can reply to you.
You do not have to be the subject of an article to complain about it. Anybody may complain about accuracy.
What happens, and when
- Acknowledgement
- Within five working days, in writing, saying who is handling it.
- Decision
- Within twenty working days of acknowledgement. If it needs longer — because a document has to be obtained, or a third party asked — you will be told that, told why, and given a date.
- Who decides
- Rose Traviss, as editor, decides complaints about what has been published. Where the complaint is about the editor’s own conduct, it is decided by a director of Assize Data Ltd who was not involved.
- Outcomes
- Upheld in whole or in part, or not upheld, with reasons. Where it is upheld, the remedy will be some combination of correcting the page, publishing a correction on corrections, publishing a reply or a clarification, amending the standards, or removing the material.
- Records
- Complaints and their outcomes are kept for three years. Figures about how many were received and how many upheld will be published once this publication has been running for a full year.
If you are not satisfied
Say so, and the decision will be reviewed once by somebody who did not make it. After that, The Assize has no further internal stage, and it is fairer to say so than to keep a complaint moving inside the building.
The Assize is not a member of IPSO or IMPRESS and is not regulated by either, so there is no press regulator to refer a complaint to. What remains is real but narrower:
- Anything about your personal data — including information published about you in reporting — can go to Assize Data Ltd as data controller, at dataprotection@assizedata.co.uk, under its data protection policy. A complaint about personal data is acknowledged within 30 days, and a request about it is answered within one month. You may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time, without coming here first: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or 0303 123 1113.
- Anything else is a matter for the courts of England and Wales. Nothing on this page affects any legal right you have, and following this procedure is not a condition of exercising one.
Vexatious and repeated complaints
A complaint will not be refused for being inconvenient, or because the same person has complained before and was right. Where a complaint repeats one already decided and adds nothing new, it will be answered by pointing at the decision. Abuse or threats to staff end the correspondence and are reported.