Regulated Industries: A Special Set of CHA Categories

At next year's UK Complaint Handling Awards, we'll be dividing categories into three sections:

 

• Discipline-specific
• Industry-specific
• Team and Professional

 

The second item on this list deserves further attention: why are we choosing to honour certain economic sectors?

 

Well, the answer is simple. These industries - utilities, financial services, housing, healthcare, transport, and hospitality & leisure - are all parts of the economy with greater regulation of the complaints process.

 

I was reminded of this at our CHA event in 2020. A representative of a certain company was talking about how they don't use the word "complaints" at their organisation, and how they choose to use a more positive phrase. In reply, a banking employee said they were legally obliged to use that word; they had to call their customer issues "complaints."

 

It's right for certain industries to face greater regulation - but the nature of their work means they're exposed to complex complaints, ones they are legally bound to address. Many of these organisations, whether in the public or private sector, have duties of care to uphold, and they have to jump through regulatory hoops that don't exist for other sectors.

 

That's why these industries deserve their own set of categories: to acknowledge the particular challenges they face, and reward them for their specific efforts.

 

If you work as a complaint handler in a regulated industry, we'd love to hear you share your story! There's a discount on all submissions running until October 22 - so enter now!