Barriers are useful when they protect people.
But when it comes to complaints, barriers often protect organisations from hearing things they need to know.
Many organisations take comfort in low complaint numbers. Fewer complaints can feel like evidence of good service, satisfied users, and reduced risk. In reality, it can mean something else entirely.
It can mean the barriers are working too well.
Why people don’t complain
Service users often don’t stay silent because everything is fine. They stay silent because complaining feels difficult, risky, or pointless.
Common barriers include:
- Poor visibility of how to complain or where to start
- Low confidence or fear of “being a bother”
- Worry about repercussions or being treated differently
- A belief that nothing will change
- Lack of trust that they will be listened to
- Simply not knowing they can complain at all
When these barriers exist, complaint volumes stay low. But so does insight.
What low numbers can hide
Barriers don’t remove dissatisfaction. They bury it.
When people feel unable to complain, issues surface later in different ways:
- Escalation to senior leaders or external bodies
- Reputational damage
- Legal challenge
- Entrenched mistrust
- Issues becoming harder, costlier, and more emotionally charged to resolve
At that point, organisations are no longer dealing with feedback. They are dealing with fallout.
True protection comes from access, not avoidance
Removing barriers doesn’t mean inviting criticism for its own sake. It means creating a system that works before problems escalate.
Accessible, visible and proportionate complaint processes allow organisations to:
- Capture early intelligence
- Understand where systems or decisions are failing
- Resolve issues quickly and fairly
- Learn and improve services
- Build trust and confidence with service users
This is where real protection sits.
Not in keeping numbers low, but in knowing what those numbers are telling you. Where low complaint volumes may be masking deeper issues, organisations often benefit from independent reviews of complaints handling and accessibility to understand what is really happening beneath the surface.
The equation that matters
Intelligence leads to knowledge.
Knowledge enables early resolution.
Early resolution prevents escalation, cost and harm.
That is what a healthy complaints system protects.
What good looks like in practice
Organisations that use complaints as protection tend to get a few fundamentals right:
- Visibility
Information about how to complain is easy to find, written in plain language and available in more than one format. - Psychological safety
Service users are reassured that raising concerns will not lead to negative consequences or poorer treatment. - Proportionate handling
Issues are resolved at the earliest appropriate stage, without unnecessary formality or escalation. - Consistency and fairness
Decisions are reasoned, explained and grounded in policy, with similar issues treated in similar ways. - Learning, not just logging
Complaint data is actively reviewed, themes are identified, and learning is fed back into service delivery. - Feedback loops
People are told what changed as a result of complaints, reinforcing that speaking up has value.
None of this increases risk.
It reduces it.