Appeal Procedure

Appeal

An appeal is a request submitted on specific grounds for a formal review of a decision. Although similar to some extent in procedure, an appeal is distinct from a complaint where complaints seek to raise concerns about the quality or delivery of service an individual or an organisation has received.

Administrative Appeal

We define an administrative appeal as a request for a review of a decision taken by an individual or body charged with making decisions about any aspect of an individual’s or organisation to have access to learning or learning experience and services offered by our centre which is not an academic decision. This can include but not restricted to decisions about registration processes, service and support provision, contractual obligations, any fee liability where applicable, financial support, exceptional arrangements and reasonable adjustment which are not academic in nature are covered under this Appeal procedure.

Academic Appeal

An academic appeal may be defined as ‘a request for a review of a decision made on matters including but not restricted to admission, assessment, student progression and awards. Decisions about entry requirements, reasonable adjustments for teaching and assessment for students with disabilities, progression rules, academic misconduct, assignment marks, assessment and verification, allocated modules grades where applicable, module results, assignment submission and the award and classification of qualifications would be normally covered by the Academic Appeal. Any assessment related is covered under the Assessment appeal.

Data Retention

Correspondence, evidence and case files in relation to complaints and appeals will be held by the centre for a period of 6 years from the date of the last action.

Expected Standards of Behaviour

Our staff will deal with an individual’s appeal courteously and respectfully and, wherever possible, in such a way as to resolve any problems as quickly and effectively as possible.

Individual has the right to expect that all those who respond to, investigate, or adjudicate on an appeal shall do so impartially. No individual will be permitted to be involved in a case in which they have a material interest or in which any actual or potential conflict of interest may arise.

An individual may anticipate that it may be difficult to meet the deadlines expressed in this Policy because of a registered disability or learning difficulty, then the centre should be informed, ideally before the relevant deadline elapses. Additional time may be granted for submissions that meet these grounds at the discretion of the centre.

The centre hopes that individual acknowledges that this policy and procedure provides for a swift and fair assessment of the appeal; however, any feedback an individual may have on the process will be considered as part of our continual improvement efforts.

Confidentiality

The privacy and confidentiality of an individual will be respected at all stages of the appeal process.

All information submitted in relation to an appeal will be dealt with confidentially and will only be disclosed to other parties for the purposes of conducting an effective investigation and achieving a judgement of an appeal.

Timeframe

An appeal must be submitted as soon as possible and any delay in submitting an appeal will need to be fully explained and may be grounds for rejection. Normally, an appeal must be submitted within 15 working days of being notified of the relevant results.
The centre will make every reasonable effort to meet the time limits as stated in this procedure where all appeal will be dealt with within 20 working days; however, for complex cases additional time may be required to ensure a thorough investigation. Where an exception to the standard time limit is needed you will be notified of this and will be kept informed of when you can expect to receive an outcome response.

Procedure

Stage 1 Querying a Decision

If you have grounds to believe that any decision relating to your student or registration experience is wrong, you should notify the centre where the decision was made as soon as possible.

You cannot query a decision simply because you do not agree with it. You must show why the decision was not made in accordance with the relevant centre policies, procedures or regulations. You must complete this within 15 working days of being notified of the relevant results.

You should set out the reason(s) why you believe the decision was not the correct decision, providing evidence where appropriate. If your query is received more than 15 working days after the decision, it is likely to be considered as out of time.

You can query the decision through a phone call or by sending an email to ensure that you are put in touch with the right department of our centre to deal with the query.

If the member of staff receiving your query is unable to overturn the decision or to offer you an agreeable outcome, they will advise you, by whatever medium, within 15 working days of receiving your query, what action they are going to take, when you should expect to receive a response and by what means.

Within 15 working days of receipt of your query you will be issued with an Outcome message (by email or letter) which will contain a full response to your query or concern.

Stage 2 Making a Formal Appeal

  • Once you have received the Outcome Message from the stage 1, if you consider that the decision has not been reviewed in accordance with the relevant policies, procedures and regulations, or if you have not received an outcome message within the time limit (or extended time limit) you may invoke stage 2 Making a Formal Appeal.
  • Write to the Quality Manager within 15 days of the date of the outcome from stage 1.
  • You must explain why the outcome to your query has not resolved the issue.
  •  Set out one or more of the following grounds on which you believe the centre should review its decision:

a) That relevant evidence has not been taken into account.
b) That irrelevant evidence was taken into account.
c) That any relevant regulations, policies or procedures have not been applied correctly.
d) That the reasons for the decision were not fully and clearly communicated to you.
e) That there was bias, or the likelihood of bias in making the decision
f) That the procedure followed was not fair or adequate
g) That the decision was not one which, in all the circumstances, it was reasonable for the centre to have made.
h) Any other concrete justification

  • Submit any new evidence which has not previously been submitted in support of your appeal.
  • Failure to meet these requirements will result in the appeal not being accepted.
  • The Quality Manager will acknowledge receipt of the appeal within 5 working days. You will be advised whether your appeal meets the requirements in the paragraphs above and has been accepted, and if not, why it has not. This will be done through an acknowledgement letter.
  • If it has not been accepted, you will be given a further opportunity to resubmit your request for a review within 15 days of the acknowledgement letter.
  • If your appeal is accepted, you will be advised when a full response can be expected. In most cases this should be no more than 15 working days from the date of the acknowledgement; however, you will be advised if a time extension is required and the reasons why.
  • The Quality Manager will investigate the appeal you have made. The grounds for appeal will be taken into account and any evidence you have submitted in support of your application, review your student record and refer to policies, procedures and regulations as appropriate. Information may be gathered from other staffs members to ensure the appeal is considered thoroughly.
  • Once your appeal has been fully investigated you will be sent a Decision Letter. The Decision Letter will set out the grounds for your appeal, a timeline of events, details of the information or evidence which was taken into consideration, and the outcome of the appeal.
  • If your appeal is not upheld, you will be informed of the reasons for its rejection.
  • If your appeal is upheld, or partly upheld, you will be informed of the actions being taken to put the matter right.

Stage 3 Requesting For Review

Once you have received the Decision Letter, if you consider that the decision has not been considered in accordance with the relevant policies, procedures and regulations you may invoke the stage 3 Requesting for Review.

  • Write to the Director within 15 days of the date of the outcome from stage 2.
  • You must explain why the outcome has not resolved the issue.
  • Set out one or more of the following grounds on which you believe the center should review its decision:

a) That relevant evidence has not been taken into account.
b) That irrelevant evidence was taken into account.
c) That any relevant regulations, policies or procedures have not been applied correctly.
d) That the reasons for the decision were not fully and clearly communicated to you.
e) That there was bias, or the likelihood of bias in making the decision
f) That the procedure followed was not fair or adequate
g) That the decision was not one which, in all the circumstances, it was reasonable for the centre to have made.
h) Any other concrete justification

  • Submit any new evidence which has not previously been submitted in support of your stage 2 Formal Appeal.
  • Failure to meet these requirements will result in the Request for Review stag 3 not being accepted.
  • The Director will acknowledge receipt of the request for a review within 5 working days. You will be advised whether your request for a review has been accepted, and if not, why it has not. This will be done through a Request for Review Letter.
  • If it has not been accepted, you will be given a further opportunity to resubmit your request for a review within 15 days of the Request for Review Letter.
  • If your request for review is accepted, you will be advised when a full response can be expected.In most cases this should be no more than 15 working days from the date of the Request for Review Letter; however, you will be advised if a time extension is required and the reasons why.
  • The Director will investigate the appeal you have made. The grounds for appeal will be taken into account and any evidence you have submitted in support of your application, review your student record and refer to policies, procedures and regulations as appropriate. Information may be gathered from other staffs members to ensure the appeal is considered thoroughly.
  • The matter will be dealt with within 15 working days. However, if an extension is required to deal with stage 2, you will be informed of how long more it will take and why.
  • Once your request for review has been fully investigated you will be sent a Final Appeal Decision Letter. The Final Appeal Decision Letter will set out the grounds for your appeal, a timeline of events, details of the information or evidence which was taken into consideration, and the outcome of the Request for Review. The decision of director is final.

Closure of Complaint Procedure

1. The outcome of stage 3 is final and there is no further review consideration after this
stage.
2. If you are still dissatisfied with the outcome and has exhausted our centre’s appeal procedure, you can contact a number of other institutions. You need to refer to their policies and follow their complaint processes.

a. OFSTED- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted
b. ESFA- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/education-and-skills- funding-agency
c. CQC- https://www.cqc.org.uk/
d. Register of End Point Assessment Organisation(R)-
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-of-end-point-assessment-organisations
e. Find Apprenticeship Training-
https://findapprenticeshiptraining.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/
f. Office for Independent Adjudicator- https://www.oiahe.org.uk/