Cafod has been suspended from the Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative, which monitors how aid organisations operate.
Among other things, the HQAI exists to prevent charitable beneficiaries from being abused by their staff.
According to the most recent report released by the HQAI, Cafod scored zero out of a possible five points for its handling of complaints, following an audit of its services in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The HQAI report said that Cafod had a major problem in programmes which were delivered by its partners, where complaints handling was weak.
It said that the mechanism for making complaints about the charity had until recently been “effectively non-functional” and that there were still “serious and connected weaknesses”.
“Cafod is not presently in position to ensure communities have access to safe and responsive mechanisms to handle complaints,” the report said.
The HQAI has given Cafod six months to carry out “a major corrective action request”, the report said.
Chris Bain, director of Cafod, said: "We are passionate about protecting as well as serving the poorest communities overseas. Cafod requested the independent HQAI audit to hold ourselves fully accountable. We were very disappointed that it found gaps in how we welcome and address complaints from overseas communities, and we will do better.
"By shining a light into all areas of our work and taking action, we are a stronger and more accountable organisation, upholding our commitment and passion to improve the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable people."
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