Ethics and complaints procedure

Ethics complaints procedure – violation of PPN ethics

Contacts

Email: support@petpronetwork.com

Ethics and membership support – Nikki Birkett

Mediator and Complaints Officer (safeguarding and legal issues) – Cath Pickles

We are unable to accept any complaints via messenger due to privacy issues and Helen Motteram (Founder of PPN) is unable to deal with any form of complaint in order to protect all parties.

The following guidelines have been drawn up by our ethics and complaints team to help protect PPN Members and our supporting organisations. Under our guidelines PPN considers six types of complaints regarding the violation of our ethics:

1.) Alleged use of stealing other professional’s images/infographic or intentionally copying others members content.

2.) Alleged use of equipment or methods that causes unnecessary discomfort, both physical or mental, to either human or pet clients.

3.) Alleged bullying or harassment of our Members, other professionals and clients.

4.) Safeguarding issues; including taking advantage of vulnerable members or clients and/or any sexual harassment or abuse.

5.) The use of spam or unethical marketing practices, such as unauthorised messages selling products or services.

6.) Poor or inadequate advice or support to clients; this includes failure to offer ongoing support or failure to help (once agreeing to take on your role) due to lack of knowledge/experience.

7.) Using offensive language in our community directed at other Members or continued lack of respect of others, or general rudeness once warned or reported.

8.) Slander of PPN, other organisations or our supporting Affiliates.

PPN may choose to deal with a matter according to either one or more of our ethics is dependent on the nature of the allegation. All reports are in strict confidence.   

How to report a complaint

Reports of alleged violation of our ethics and terms and conditions will be handled according to each of the guidelines as stated above.

The responsibility for the investigation of alleged ethic violations is designated to the PPN Mediator and Complaints Officer and the ethics and membership support team. Management although oversea the investigation are to remain impartial at all times.

• Any person that feels they have been treated in any way that violates PPN ethics and terms and conditions of membership may file and report a complaint; the PPN Mediator and Complaints Officer will only consider complaints filed on behalf of a third party if the complaint is accompanied by substantial evidence from the following publicly available sources; records, reports or court judgement.

• All ethics complaints will be investigated and handled in an appropriate time and documented in a confidentially. These will only be given access by the Mediator and Complaints Officer and PPN Management.

• Complaints must be presented in a timely fashion; allegations of violations occurring more than 90 day prior to the alleged incident will be considered only under special circumstances.

How to file a report of an alleged ethics violation

The individual reporting the alleged violation must present this to Nikki Birkett in writing as a brief account and the nature of the issue to support@petpronetwork.com and this will be passed onto our Mediator and Complaints or Officer or ethics and support team dependent on the nature of the issue. You will be then be sent a complaints form to fill in. This report will contain more detailed information and any relevant evidence.

• We cannot respond to text messages or messages via Messenger for incidents regarding violation of ethics, other than responding to contact via email and are unable to make further comments via other forms of communication, other than email, until the full process has been followed. This is to fully protect all parties. Our Manager (Helen Motteram) is unable to deal with any complaints individually.

• The report will remain confidential throughout and after the process.
• The following information must be included in the alleged violation report: 1.) The names of the alleged person and the actual complainant in reference to the violation of PPN ethics and terms and conditions. This must be specific. The complaint must reference the area that you feel have been violated 2.) A specific description including when and where the violation was alleged to have occurred, who was involved and what happened and evidence.

• PPN do not accept reports from sources of ‘here say’ or third parties unless from a public source and can only take allegations further with sufficient evidence.

• The reported person will only be contacted if sufficient evidence is given and details of any parties involved will be kept strictly confidential.

Report receipt

a) PPN will acknowledge receipt of the alleged violation without comment within 72 hours of receipt.

b) Reports will be kept confidential by all parties; this means no information about the complaint will be discussed with any other person other than PPN Management team, the Mediator and Complaints Officer and ethics support team. If confidentiality is breached it may be considered a violation of our ethics and terms and conditions.

c) PPN Management will forward the complaint to the Mediator and Complaints Officer and ethics suppoirt team. The details of the complaint will be kept confidential in order to preserve the ability to fairly and objectively interact with the member.

Investigation

a) PPN will review the complaint. If necessary, they may ask for more information.

b) If the initial review indicates that the complaint is not a violation of PPN ethics and terms and conditions, then the complainant will be notified in writing and no investigation will be pursued unless further facts or evidence is proffered.

c) Please note to ensure investigation is fair and thorough investigation can take a minimum of up to 2 weeks, we thank you for your patience.

d) Our admin Team do not work weekends, so please allow extra time for us to contact you.

e) In regards to suspected safeguarding issues, we will need to suspend all parties immediately, this is to protect all.

f) Once all the information and sufficient evidence has been gathered, PPN Management will make a decision based on the individual case and nature of the incident involved, this may include:

• Further education and mentoring.

• Membership suspension from one week up to six months; which may be combined with education.

• Termination of PPN membership.

Appeal

• If an individual chooses to appeal the decision of PPN Management, they will be given 20 calendar days to do so.

• All materials considered will be given to the PPN manager and Mediator and Complaints Officer and kept confidential.

• A final decision will be made within five (5 to 30) calendar days and the individual will be notified in writing.

Confidentiality

• Complete confidentiality shall be maintained by all involved parties throughout the process.

• Once a decision has been made, the parties involved will be notified that a determination has been made. In some circumstances both parties may be contacted by phone, only before our final decision has been made.

• Details of this decision will remain private.

• A violation of confidentiality by any party involved in the matter will be considered a violation of the PPN ethics and may affect the outcome of the investigation.

The individual reporting the alleged violation must present this to Nikki Birkett in writing as a brief account at support@petpronetwork.com and this will be passed onto our Mediator and Complaints Officer and ethics support team. You will be then be sent a complaints form to fill in. This report will contain more detailed information and any relevant evidence.