What is Part 11 C&D?
The Part 11 Complaints and Discipline Process is one of the means by which the Church recognizes that all human beings are made in the image of God and are entitled to be treated as such, and by which it maintains its witness to the new life to which we are called through Christ.
The Part 11 process sits within CPD, and is governed by standing orders specifically written to support this process.
Through the Complaints and discipline process members of the Methodist Church are accountable to the Church in matters of faith and behaviour.
The Church seeks to enable healing and reconciliation to take place through the accountability whenever possible. The Church also responds to the call through Christ for justice, openness and honesty, and to the need for each of us to accept responsibility for our own actions.
The possibility of reconciliation or an alternative form of early resolution should be explored carefully in every case in which that is appropriate.
Part 11 is there for a fair process for the complainant and the respondent, which is why we work within the guidelines of confidentiality to ensure that only those who need to know about the complaint are informed.
The process will offer support, through the District, or through alternative means depending on the case, to both parties as they navigate their way through the process.
Who manages the Complaints Process?
The Connexional Complaints Support Manager is the appointed person by the Secretary of Conference to manage the cases within Complaints.
Along with the CCSM, there are District appointed District Resolution Officers and the Conference appoint Complaint Panel Chairs and members, Discipline Committee Chairs and members, Appeal committee Chairs and panels.
What is considered a complaint?
Standing Order 1101 states that a complaint is a complaint for the purpose of Part 11 when a statement by any person to a member of the Church, ordained or lay, objects to the words, acts or omissions of another member or person holding Office in the Church and requesting that action be taken as a consequence.
Who can make a complaint?
Anyone can make a complaint about a member of the Methodist Church, whether ordained, lay or hold an Office within the church.
The complaint needs to be made within 12 months of the alleged conduct, but the Connexional Complaints Support Manager is allowed to consider complaints outside of this time line in exceptional circumstances and must consult or take advice as appears appropriate in the particular case.
How do I make a complaint?
Each District will have appointed either one or more District Resolution Officer, who will have been recruited to their role through the District.
Their role is to function as the first point of call for a complaint in their District, and are known as the recipient of the complaint.
They will require the complainant to fill out this form, and send it to them.
When is this not the case?
When a complaint is raised against the President or a District Chair, or a minister or probationer in connexional appointment (whether full-time or part-time), or against a lay connexional officer (including, for the purposes of this Standing Order, a lay member of the Connexional Team) in respect of conduct in the discharge of the respondents office, the functions of the district resolution officer shall be performed by the Secretary of Conference (or the President in the case of a complaint against the Secretary).
This would mean that the complaint form would be sent to the Connexional Complaints Support Manager to allocate it to the appropriate person.
What happens if there's a conflict of interest within the complaints process?
We are aware that within the Methodist Church, many people might know each other through worshipping together, being on committees together or through the stationing processes. This does not always mean that this would be considered a conflict of interest, and therefore we have devised a document to be followed of what the Methodist Church would consider a conflict of interest within the process. See the guide to conflicts of interest.
Who is my District Resolution Officer?
Each District will have at least one person that they have appointed into the role of District Resolution Officer. They will be notes on the Districts Page as to who you need to make contact with about your complaint. If you are unable to find the right person, please contact the Connexional Complaints Support Manager who will put you in contact with the right DRO.
Once my Complaint form is in, what happens next?
Once it has been decided that no informal way of resolving this complaint can be met, then the complaint should be passed on to the District Resolution Officer in your District.
If the complaint is about the District Resolution Officer, then this needs to go to the Superintendent of the circuit. The DRO must inform the CCSM of the complaint to obtain a case reference number. The DRO with the support of the CCSM will triage the complaint to decide which process it will follow.
What happens if my complaint has a safeguarding element to it?
If your complaint has a safeguarding element to it, or is specifically about a safeguarding concern, then the DRO and the CCSM will take this to the Regional Officer for Safeguarding within the District to share with them.
Equally, you may have taken your complaint to Safeguarding in the first place; and in this instance, the compliant will be shared with the CCSM. Where there are elements of conduct and Safeguarding, both departments will triage the complaint and can decide to either do one process first before the other, or work in parallel with each other.
How will my complaint process?
The Part 11 process will ask for the CCSM to triage the complaint taking into consideration;
Time limit – the complaint must be raised within 12 months of the conduct noted in the complaint, however the CCSM is allowed to consider complaints older than this if noting the reasons why they’ve been allowed to be considered.
Safeguarding – ensure that the ROS has bene informed and seek any advise.
Resolution – what is the outcome that the complainant is hoping to achieve from this process
The CCSM then has to decided whether the complaint is considered on a Tier 1 process or a Tier 2 process.
Tier 1:
Early resolution.
This Tier is where your DRO will be more involved in handling the complaint. This tier is for substantiating what happened between both parties and looking for reconciliation between the parties and or resolution.
They may use help from within the District to bring around this resolution. During the process, if the DRO is given further evidence, or believes that the complaint requires further investigation, they are allowed to request to the CCSM for this complaint to be considered on a Tier 2 process.
At the end of the process; the DRO will write a report with what has happened, about the evidence produced and the outcome which could be recommendations for further mediation, that the outcome was no resolution or that it required further investigation. We aim to complete this process within 1 month.
Tier 2:
Investigation.
This Tier is used for further investigating the complaint if it is noted that further evidence is required into the conduct, or if in fact the conduct stated within the complaint might merit a charge and a disciple process. The CCSM will appoint either a;
- Complaints Team Chair on their own.
- Complaints team made up of three people, Panel Chair plus two other panel members.
- A Connexional Caseworker.
- An External Body.
- Another person or body in accordance with an alternative procedure.
Those appointed to investigate with meet with the respondent and complainant and any other witnesses that are put forward that they choose to meet with if they believe that they can add evidence to the case.
They also can specifically ask for evidence and a response to what’s been put forward. At the end of the process, they write a report with outcomes based around the following:
- Reconciliation Pathway (8)
- Non reconciliation Pathway (10)
- Dismiss
- Recommendations and Directions
- Alternative procedures specified as per Standing Orders 1123 (6)
- Send to an Advocate for preparation for a Charge.
If during the process, the investigator decides that they are not able to ratify the evidence provided, they are able to send the complaint to Tier 1 with recommendations for the District and the DRO to help support.
For a preparation of a charge, fore the report is submitted, a complaint panel of 3 members must have ratified the evidence and the report for that decision to move forward. This process aims to be completed within 3 months.
Tier 3:
Discipline.
This Tier is when the report and evidence from a Tier 2 investigation recommended that it went forward to an Advocate to prepare a charge.
This is the charge that the Methodist Church brings against the Respondent, and the Advocate becomes the Presenting Officer for the church in this process.
The CCSM appoints a Convener, who will convene the discipline committee and appoint a Panel Chair and the CCSM will offer the Respondent an Advocate if they so choose to have one. The Discipline Process is where sanctions are decided and must be followed.
Confidentiality
The Part 11 Complaints and Discipline Process is a confidential process, where we ask the Complainant and the Respondent to adhere to the confidentiality guidelines.
During the process, both Complainant and Respondent will be allowed to have a supporter who can be involved in the process as support for them. The process requires that they also follow the confidentiality guidelines.