Complaints Policy

All oral complaints, no matter how trivial or seemingly unimportant should be taken seriously. Staff and delegates must always remain calm and respectful, nothing will be gained by adopting an aggressive or defensive attitude.

• Staff who receive an oral complaint should attempt to resolve the problem immediately if possible.
• Where the problem cannot be resolved the staff member should offer to contact the Chief Operating Officer in order to resolve the problem.
• All contact with the complainant should be polite, courteous and sympathetic towards their concern.
• All staff should not except blame, make excuses or blame other persons including other operatives.
• After talking the problem through the site operative or Chief Operating Officer should suggest a course of action in order to resolve the complaint, where the action is acceptable by the complainant clarify the agreement with the complainant and verify what future communication if any is required. e.g., Verbal/written.
• Should the course of action not be acceptable by the complainant request the complainant to put their complaint in writing to the Chief Operating Officer. Freely offering the appropriate address to the complainant.

Where a complaint is received in writing the Chief Operating Officer will record the complaint in the complaints record and acknowledge receipt of complaint within two working days

• If necessary, further details maybe sort from the complainant
• Where necessary the Chief Operating Officer may be required to contact third parties, where this action is taken the complainant must be made aware of the situation.
• If the complaint raises serious concerns, we should seek legal representation.
• Where necessary we shall proceed to investigate the complaint and be able to answer the complaint within 28 days either in writing or a meeting by prior arrangement with the complainant.
• In the case of a complex complaint and the investigation taking longer than the 28 days the complainant should be informed of the situation.
• During the meeting, a detailed explanation should be given of the results of the investigation and an apology given if deemed appropriate. (an apology need not be an admission of liability)
• Minutes detailing the meeting should be taken and a copy given to the complainant and a copy kept on file.
• Any short comings on behalf of Acadame procedures should be identified and acted upon.

To process a complaint Acadame will hold personal data about the complainant, which the individual provides, and which other people give in response to the complaint. We will hold this data securely and only use it to address the complaint. The identity of the person making the complaint will only be known to those who need to consider the complaint and will not be revealed to other people or made public. However, it may not be possible to preserve confidentiality in some circumstances, for example, where relevant legislation applied, or allegations are made which involve the conduct of third parties.

Acadame will normally destroy complaints files in a secure manner six years after the complaint has been closed.

Complaints are an important tool which, alongside data provided by exit surveys, stakeholder surveys, learner and apprentice feedback and focus groups, will allow us to learn about the services we provide. They provide a useful source of information about how individuals see our services and how we are serving them. To ensure we can learn from complaints the following data will be collected:

• Name and address
• Name of person dealing with the complaint
• Date of complaint and response
• Nature of complaint
• Action(s) taken/recommendations made in response to the complaint
• Lessons learnt

Wherever possible the data will be used to improve and develop our service.

Once we have completed our investigation, we will explain what went wrong and why, apologise when it is appropriate and take action to remedy the situation as soon as possible.

If you remain unsatisfied with the outcome after escalating your complaint you can contact the appropriate regulator and/or awarding body, providing evidence that you have instigated Acadame’s complaints procedure in the first instance:

The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual ) In England

public.enquiries@ofqual.gov.uk

Council for the Curriculum, Examination & Assessment (CCEA) In Northern Ireland

ccearegulation@ccea.org.uk

Qualifications Wales/Gymwysterau Cymru In Wales

enquiries@qualificationswales.org

Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) In Scotland

accreditation@sqa.org.uk

Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB)

complaints@ecitb.org.uk

Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)

feedback@citb.co.uk

Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH)

csc@iosh.com

Qualifications Network (QNUK)

centres@qnuk.org