Our complaints procedure

About this policy

The Fringe Society's role

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the charitable organisation that underpins the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We exist to support artists and to champion the principles on which the Fringe was founded.

We are not a regulatory body. We do not have powers of enforcement. We cannot compel participants to take any particular action, we cannot adjudicate legal disputes, and we cannot provide legal advice. Our tools are those of a convener: we can facilitate dialogue, offer mediation, log complaints, make recommendations, and - as a last resort - withdraw our services. That could mean withdrawing ability for participants to accredit as Media or Arts Industry, refusing to allow a venue to register, or refusing to allow an individual/organisation to register a show in accordance with our Terms and Conditions.

Important: What we can and cannot do

• We CAN: receive and log complaints, investigate where evidence allows, offer mediation, make recommendations, and withdraw Fringe Society services (such as registration or accreditation) where warranted.
• We CANNOT: compel participants to pay money owed, enforce employment law, investigate criminal matters, provide legal advice, or guarantee any particular outcome.

For legal matters, participants should contact relevant authorities directly (Police Scotland, ACAS, Citizens Advice Scotland, Equity, BECTU – see External referral routes below). We can signpost but not refer on your behalf.

Our relationship with CIISA

This policy has been developed in consultation with the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) and reflects the CIISA Standards (February 2025). 

No legal advice

Nothing in this policy suite constitutes legal advice. Participants who believe they have experienced unlawful behaviour – including assault, sexual harassment, theft, fraud or discrimination – should contact the relevant authority (Police Scotland, ACAS or Citizens Advice) directly. We will always support and signpost participants to these routes, but we are not able to advocate, represent or advise legally on their behalf. No action that the Fringe Society takes as part of these policies should be viewed as taking responsibility for any individual or organisation’s own legal compliance.

Who this applies to

This policy applies to all Fringe participants, which the Fringe Society defines as:

• all company members connected to a registered show (cast, crew, production staff) and their primary contact
• registered venues and their staff
• accredited media (journalists, reviewers, critics)
• accredited arts industry participants (programmers, producers, agents)
• producers and PRs working with registered shows
• volunteers and casual workers engaged through Fringe-connected organisations
• street performers participating in Fringe Street Events.

None of the above are employees or contractors of the Fringe Society, which defines both the limits of our authority and the nature of our role, which is one of support, guidance, mediation and – where necessary – a graduated withdrawal of services.

Complaints process overview

The Fringe Society's complaint process is designed to be straightforward, supportive and fair – not adversarial. Our starting point is always: how can we help resolve this?

You can contact us at any stage and in any way – by email or in person. We log all complaints, including informal ones, because recording patterns matters even when no immediate action is warranted. 

In most cases, no action will be taken without your knowledge. However, where a complaint contributes to a wider pattern of concerns about the same individual or organisation, it may inform action we take – even if we cannot update you individually on the outcome.

Managing expectations

Please read before submitting a complaint.

The Fringe Society is not a court, a regulator or a legal authority. We cannot compel anyone to pay money, take specific action, or change their behaviour.

• We can: record your complaint, investigate where possible, make recommendations, and take proportionate action up to and including withdrawal of Fringe Society services.
• We cannot: guarantee any particular outcome, provide legal advice, represent you in legal proceedings, or resolve disputes that are properly the domain of the courts or employment tribunals.

If you believe a criminal offence has been committed, please contact Police Scotland directly. We can support you in doing so but cannot act on your behalf.

Who can raise a complaint

Any Fringe participant (as defined above – see Who this applies to) can raise a complaint with the Fringe Society. You do not need to be a primary contact for a registered show – company members, venue staff, volunteers and others connected to Fringe participation are all welcome to contact us. You may raise a complaint on your own behalf, or on behalf of others with their knowledge and consent.

Where you feel safe to do so, you may wish to raise a concern with the venue, producer or organisation you are working with in the first instance – they should have their own procedures for handling complaints. If you do not feel safe doing so, if you feel your concern has not been dealt with adequately, or if your complaint relates to the organisation itself, please come to us directly.

What you can raise a complaint about

Anything you believe breaches the Code of Conduct or Unacceptable Behaviour Policy – including withheld payments, misleading contracts, bullying or harassment, unsafe environments, or failure to deliver promised services. You can raise a complaint with us even after the Fringe has concluded.

Time limits

There is no formal time limit. Complaints raised within 12 months can generally be investigated more effectively. Those raised later will still be logged and may inform future decisions, even where investigation is limited. We encourage complaints to be raised regardless.

During the Fringe

During the Fringe, we commit to an initial response within 48 hours for all complaints. For those assessed as High or Very High priority (see How we respond, below), we will take urgent steps where the situation requires it.

The complaint stages

What happens to your complaint

• All complaints are logged and held on record by the Fringe Society.
• Records are held securely and are not accessible via general shared mailboxes. Access is restricted to those directly involved in handling the complaint.
• Where multiple complaints are received about the same participant, these are reviewed together to identify patterns.
• Patterns of concern or particularly serious instances may be brought to the attention of the Fringe Society Board.
• Anonymised, aggregated data on complaints received is reported to the Board annually.
• The Fringe Society does not provide legal advice in connection with any complaint.

A note on confidentiality and anonymity

Your complaint will be handled with care and discretion – we will not share your identity or the details of your complaint without your consent, and access to complaint records is restricted to those directly involved in handling it.

You are welcome to report something to us anonymously. We will always log anonymous reports, and they may contribute to pattern identification and inform action we take over time. However, without a named contact we cannot follow up for further information, which means our ability to investigate or take direct action is significantly limited. If we later identify a pattern of similar concerns from other sources, your anonymous report may contribute to any action we take – though we will not be able to update you on outcomes.

If you would like us to know who you are but not share that with the respondent, this is sometimes possible. It is harder in cases where there are few potential complainants or where the issues are very specific – but talk to us and we will do what we can.

We will always ask your consent before sharing your identity, and we will explain clearly why it is needed.

All complaint information is held in accordance with the Fringe Society's data protection obligations under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. If you have questions about how your data is handled, please contact us at [email protected].

A note on the respondent

Where a complaint is raised about another participant, we refer to that person or organisation as the respondent.

What we share

What we share with the respondent is determined by the complainant. We will always ask the complainant what they are comfortable with us sharing before making contact. In practice, we encourage complainants and respondents to engage directly with each other where possible – our role is to facilitate resolution, not to act as an intermediary passing information back and forth. (See our mediation service.)

Where a complainant does not want their identity or the details of their complaint shared, we will respect that. This may limit what we can do – we cannot investigate or facilitate resolution without some level of information sharing – but we will always be transparent with the complainant about what that means in practice.

The respondent's reply

If a respondent provides us with information or a response, that is theirs to share further or not. We will not pass it to the complainant without the respondent's consent. Where a respondent declines to engage with the process, we will note this, feed back to the complainant in general terms, and may close or reclassify the complaint accordingly.

The right to reply before action

We will not take action against a respondent – including any withdrawal of services – without first giving them a reasonable opportunity to respond to the complaint(s). The level of detail shared will be proportionate to the nature and severity of the complaint and subject to the complainant's consent.

Appeals

A respondent may appeal any action taken against them. Appeals follow the same process as for complainants – heard by a senior manager who was not involved in the original decision.

Complaint logging and classification

Every complaint we receive is logged – whether it arrives by email, in person, or informally. Consistent logging serves several purposes:

• it ensures every person who raises a concern receives a proper response;
• it enables us to identify patterns of behaviour across the Fringe
• it allows us to demonstrate accountability.

When a complaint is received, it is assigned a category, an information quality rating, a severity rating, and a priority level. These assessments determine how we respond. The full detail of what we record, how we rate information quality, and how we assess severity is set out in Appendix B of our Conduct and Behaviour Policies – but in plain terms:

• Category: what kind of complaint it is (financial, harassment, employment, etc).
• Information quality: how reliable the source is and how strong the information is.
• Severity: how serious the impact is, how many people are affected, and how easily it can be remedied.
• Priority: derived from the above, ranging from Very High to Document Only.

All complaints are assigned to one of the following categories:

A complaint may be tagged with a primary category and one or more secondary categories where the issues span more than one area.

Note: some behaviour in any category may also constitute unlawful conduct. Where this is the case, we will always signpost complainants to Police Scotland.

How we respond

Complaints are handled by the Artist Support and Projects Manager in the first instance. Where a complaint is serious or complex, or where action involves service withdrawal or Board awareness, it is escalated to the Head of Artist Services and, where necessary, the Chief Executive and wider Senior Management Team. Appeals are heard by a senior manager who was not involved in the original decision – see Complaints process overview, above.

The full decision matrix – showing how information quality and severity ratings combine to determine priority level – is set out below. In summary:

• Document only: logged for pattern identification with no further action at this stage.
• Low priority: logged and monitored, with signposting offered but no direct contact with the respondent unless requested.
• Medium priority: investigated, with mediation offered where appropriate and formal recommendations issued.
• High priority: actively investigated, with expert advice sought where relevant.
• Very high priority: urgent response, with consideration of urgent action including service withdrawal and liaison with Police Scotland where appropriate.

Actions available: individuals

In increasing order of seriousness:

• Written acknowledgement and signposting only.
• Written recommendations to the respondent, with no further action.
• Offer of mediation facilitated by the Fringe Society.
• Official warning with requirement to engage with Fringe Society process.
• Physical removal from a Fringe environment (eg Fringe Central or street performance area).
• Removal of accreditation for media or arts industry; non-accreditation the following year.
• Referral to the respondent's employer where relevant and appropriate.
• Suspension of ability to register shows (temporary).
• Permanent withdrawal of Fringe Society services (registration, accreditation, advertising).
• Referral to Police Scotland or other authorities (very high priority / unlawful behaviour only).

Actions available: organisations and venues

In increasing order of seriousness:

• Written acknowledgement and signposting only.
• Written recommendations to the organisation with no further action.
• Offer of mediation facilitated by the Fringe Society.
• Management letter setting out concerns.
• Request to the venue or organisation to take additional steps or increase monitoring.
• Requirement for shows to register directly with the Fringe Society rather than through a venue or producer.
• Suspension of ability to register shows (temporary).
• Permanent withdrawal of Fringe Society services (registration, accreditation, advertising).

When multiple complaints concern the same person or organisation

Every time a new complaint is received, we check our log for existing complaints about the same person or organisation. Where a pattern exists, we review all complaints together – reassessing severity in light of the full picture. Separate complaints from different people about similar issues, even if each appears minor in isolation, will generally increase the overall severity rating and priority level.

We are also aware that withdrawing services from a venue or producer can have consequences for artists and workers who are not responsible for the behaviour in question. In all cases where service withdrawal is considered, we will assess the impact on those affected and seek to support them.

External referral routes

The Fringe Society is not able to formally refer matters to external bodies on your behalf, but we can signpost you to the following: