Appeals and Complaints Procedure

The appeals procedure allows for appeals to take place where learners, instructors, assessors or providers feel that the Company/Centre did not apply procedures consistently or follow procedures properly and fairly. This policy applies to any of the Company/Centre training or qualifications.

What a learner can appeal against:

• Decisions following the outcome of assessment.
• Decisions regarding reasonable adjustments and special consideration
• Decisions relating to any action to be taken against a learner or provider following an investigation into malpractice or maladministration
• Appeals must be made in writing in all instances.

Who to appeal to:

Appeals can be made by providers, trainers, assessors or learners. Where an appeal is made with regards to internal assessment, the appeal must be made to the provider in the first instance by approaching the Coordinator/Centre Manager. Learners should only appeal to the awarding bodies if the Company/Centres internal appeals procedures have been exhausted. Where an appeal relates to the result of an assessment that is set and marked by an awarding body, the appeal can be made direct to that awarding body (details supplied on request). Subsequently an appeal can be made to the regulatory bodies, as appropriate.

Making an appeal:

Appeals must be made within 3 calendar months of the date of the event that the appeal relates to, e.g. date of test or course. All appeals must be submitted to the Coordinator/Centre Manager or Head of Quality and Services at the awarding body, the appeal must be made on appendix H.

Investigating an appeal:

Stage 1 – Collation of information and initial decision:
On receipt of an appeal and supporting documentation this information will be reviewed by the Coordinator/Centre Manager. Other parties may be contacted for further information where necessary, for example assessors, verifiers or examiners. Every effort to resolve any appeal quickly and will make at least an initial response and acknowledge of receipt of an appeal within 5 working days. Following receipt of an appeal by an awarding body, that awarding body will aim to move to stage 2 within 10 working days.

Stage 2 – Referral to the awarding body and Quality Committee members:
The appeal will be referred to the awarding body and/or Quality Committee (or suitable and competent independent persons nominated in their stead) to decide the outcome within a further 10 working days. Committee members have appropriate competence to undertake decisions with regards to appeals. This stage may be conducted via telephone, email or other appropriate form of communication. The awarding body’s appeals procedure will be appropriate to the award that the appeal is against. The awarding body’s decision will be final.

After the appeal:

If the appeal indicates a failure in the Centres and/or awarding body’s assessment process all reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that:

• Other learners affected are identified.
• The failure is corrected where possible.
• Effects of the failure are mitigated where possible.
• Action is taken to prevent a re-occurrence.

Responsibilities:

Coordinator/Centre Manager – Liaise with the awarding bodies EV and provide evidence where required, conduct investigations and notify awarding bodies of instances of the above. Enforce and police the above. Communicate any findings of investigations and liaise with the EV and IV on sanctions. Make initial decisions on appeal to resolve appeals where possible.

Internal Verifiers/External Verifiers – Assist the EV in investigation and carry out audits and actions/sanctions by the awarding bodies.

Trainer/Assessors – Read and follow the above. Notify the Coordinator/Centre Manager of any instances of the above. Communicate to the learners what constitutes to the above if asked or instances that have the potential to arise. Assist the EV and IV in the investigation.

Learners – Understand what constitutes to instances of the above and notify the Coordinator/Centre Manager of any instances of the above. Assist the EV and IV in investigation.

Control and storage:

Any instances of the above will be treat with confidentiality where applicable and reports will be retained accordingly within the Centre.

Please use FM-031