AddThis SmartLayers

PCC aims to speed up complaints response times

The Press Complaints Commission is promising to deal with some complaints more quickly following a wholesale review of its operations.

An independent review carried out earlier this year came up with 74 recommendations over the governance of the press watchdog.

They included setting performance targets on how quickly it responds to complaints and publishing reports on all cases that it deals with.

Now the PCC has announced it is accepting all the recommendations of the review that have not already been acted on.

Currently the PCC aims to respond to complaints within three working days, and to deal with them in 35 working days.

Now it is promising to deal with some complaints within 20 days, although it is setting a longer target of 50 days for concluding formal investigations.

A spokesman said: “Investigated complaints take longer to deal with, and we want to have a general target and a specific one for investigated cases.”

The Commission will also publish on its website all cases that eaise a breach of the Editor’s Code of Practice.

These will include upheld complaints, resolved complaints, and all cases where the newspaper has offered remedial action, but which the complainant has not accepted as resolving the complaint.

This latter category has not previously been published by the Commission.

PCC chairman Baroness Buscombe said: “Our response focuses on five key areas for the Commission: effectiveness, transparency, accountability, working independence and clarity about our function.

“We pledge that the work begun by the governance review will be continued by the Commission.”