Complaints & Misconduct

In the event of any allegation of misconduct by any club member or members, matters will be dealt with in accordance with Bowls England Regulation 9 (R9) a copy of which is displayed on the Club Noticeboard. This is a link to R9.

For matter of clarification:

Regulation 9 recognises three levels of misconduct:

• Minor
• Moderate
• Serious

All complaints of misconduct should be made using the Bowls England template official Complaints Form (link) and submitted to the Club Complaint Assessor who is the Club Chair.

Complaints of misconduct must be submitted within 14 days of first awareness of them arising. It is recognised that there may be exceptional reasons why this  is not possible, and the Complaint Assessor will use their discretion as to whether such complaints of misconduct are accepted. 

Anonymous complaints will be treated as feedback and will not be investigated or dealt with in accordance with Regulation    9. 

Upon receipt of a complaint of misconduct, the Complaint Assessor will review the complaint form, and may conduct a preliminary investigation into the matter as they deem appropriate, in order to determine: 

• if the complaint is accepted as a disciplinary matter involving misconduct which falls under Regulation 9;
• what level the misconduct falls under, and therefore what route to resolution should be followed - Informal Process for minor misconduct, Mediation for moderate misconduct or a Hearing for serious misconduct. 

The Complaint Assessor must determine how the complaint should proceed within 14 days of receiving the complaint, complete the template Complaint Report and return it to the Complainant. 

The Complaint Assessor may wish to request procedural guidance from the County Disciplinary Officer. 

If the complaint involves an External Agency, such as the police or social services (but not limited to), the Complaint Assessor will contact Bowls England immediately.

If the complaint is about the Club Chair, or where the Club Chair has a conflict of interest, then the complaint should be made to the County Disciplinary Officer who will act as the Complaint Assessor.

All reasonable effort will be made to ensure that all complaints under this Regulation are handled confidentially.

The Misconduct Process Workflow is at this link.

Full details of R9 resources and guidance are available on the Bowls England website here.