complaint-escalation-threshold

---
name: complaint-escalation-threshold
description: Draws the line between a complaint the manager settles on the spot and one that needs the environmental health officer, a solicitor, or the insurer, using the actual statutory powers and time limits that make each route real rather than a vague sense that something feels serious. Use once a complaint has been triaged and, if service-quality, a remedy decided, to decide whether anyone outside the business needs to be told.
---

# The line between you sort this and you call someone else

Most complaints end with the manager. A few cross into territory where the EHO, a solicitor, or the insurer is the right next call, decided using the actual powers and deadlines that make each route real.

## What it does

1. **Routes a food safety incident to the EHO threshold.** Under section 9 of the Food Safety Act 1990, an officer who believes food fails safety requirements may order it unused or seize it. Under section 10, an improvement notice requires measures "within such period (not being less than 14 days)," and non-compliance "shall be guilty of an offence." Under section 12, a health risk allows an emergency prohibition notice that stops the business immediately. A reaction traced to a labelling failure crosses this threshold.
2. **Routes a discrimination threat to the solicitor threshold.** Section 118(1)(a) of the Equality Act 2010: a claim "may not be brought after the end of... 6 months starting with the date of the act." Once a guest states a refusal was disability-related, that clock has started.
3. **Routes a walkout to the solicitor or police threshold.** Where a walkout-and-dispute-log entry has all three Theft Act 1978 section 3 elements recorded and the amount or pattern is significant, reporting to the police becomes the owner's informed call.
4. **Routes to the insurer where an incident could become a claim.** Standard liability-policy practice is to notify the insurer of any incident that could lead to a claim as soon as reasonably practicable, whether or not fault is admitted or a claim yet threatened.
5. **Keeps thresholds separate.** One incident can cross more than one at once, each recorded independently.

## Then it checks

1. Every complaint has a recorded decision on each threshold, not one overall yes/no.
2. Any food safety complaint involving illness or a labelling failure is flagged for EHO notification.
3. Any disability-linked refusal is flagged with the calculated six-month clock-start date.
4. Any possible-injury incident is flagged for insurer notification, independent of any view on fault.
5. No incident crossing more than one threshold is recorded against only one.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only. Never invent a fact, a number or a quote. Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never decide, on the business's behalf, whether it was at fault.
- Never advise whether to actually report to the police; that stays with the owner.
- Never state a specific fine, penalty, or claim value.
- A working threshold assessment for the owner to act on, and for the EHO, solicitor, or insurer to be the actual authority once contacted; not legal advice.

## Built from
- Food Safety Act 1990, ss.9, 10, 12, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/16/section/9 (and /10, /12), read 4 Nov 2026: step 1.
- Equality Act 2010, s.118, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/118, read 4 Nov 2026: step 2.
- Theft Act 1978, s.3, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/31/section/3, read 4 Nov 2026: step 3.

# complaint-escalation-threshold

## You are given
A triaged complaint or incident: its category, what happened, whether illness, injury, a disability-linked refusal, or payment dispute was involved, and the date. Any linked allergen-incident-response, accessibility-request-handling, or walkout-and-dispute-log record. Claude's decision on whether each threshold (EHO, solicitor, insurer) is crossed, and why.

## Produce
Write into a `./complaint-escalation-output/` folder:

1. `threshold-decisions.csv` with columns: `incident_id`, `incident_date`, `eho_threshold_crossed`, `eho_reason_verbatim`, `solicitor_threshold_crossed`, `solicitor_reason_verbatim`, `equality_act_clock_start_date`, `equality_act_deadline_date`, `insurer_threshold_crossed`, `insurer_reason_verbatim`. `eho_threshold_crossed`, `solicitor_threshold_crossed`, `insurer_threshold_crossed` are each `yes` or `no`. `equality_act_deadline_date` is `equality_act_clock_start_date` plus 6 calendar months, calculated only where `solicitor_threshold_crossed` relates to a disability-linked matter, never estimated.
2. `multi-threshold-check.csv` with columns: `incident_id`, `thresholds_crossed_count`, `thresholds_crossed_list`, `all_recorded_independently`. `thresholds_crossed_count` is a count of `yes` values across the three threshold columns. `all_recorded_independently` is `yes` or `no`; any incident with `thresholds_crossed_count` greater than 1 and `all_recorded_independently` as `no` is listed in `gaps.md`.
3. `notification-log.csv`, appended to any previous log, never overwritten, with columns: `incident_id`, `threshold_type`, `notified_party`, `notification_date`, `notification_method`. One row per actual notification made, as supplied, never invented.
4. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any incident with no threshold decision recorded at all; any disability-linked incident with no `equality_act_deadline_date` calculated; any incident crossing more than one threshold recorded against only one; any `eho_threshold_crossed` or `insurer_threshold_crossed` as `yes` with no corresponding `notification-log.csv` entry after a date the owner would reasonably be expected to have acted; and any incident where the reasoning quote is missing for a threshold marked `yes`.

## Rules
- Codex calculates deadlines, cross-checks thresholds, and logs actual notifications. It never decides whether a threshold is crossed, never advises on reporting to police, and never states a fine, penalty, or claim value.
- `equality_act_deadline_date` is always the clock-start date plus 6 calendar months, never estimated.
- Never record a notification as made unless supplied as actually having happened; a planned one stays in `gaps.md`.
- An incident crossing more than one threshold is always recorded against each independently; collapsing it is flagged in `gaps.md`.
- British English, GBP, DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes.
- Every file ends: this is a working threshold assessment for the owner to act on, and for the EHO, solicitor, or insurer to be the actual authority once contacted; not legal advice.

## Return
The absolute path and row count of each file. Incidents crossing each threshold, and those crossing more than one. The Equality Act deadline for every disability-linked incident. Notifications logged against thresholds crossed, naming any gap. The `gaps.md` item count.