Complaints Procedure- What is a complaint?
A complaint is when you inform us you are not happy about the service we provide. It can be about anything and could include:
- When we do not deliver a service on time
- When we gave you, the learner, wrong information
- When you receive a poor-quality service
- When you have a problem with a member of staff
We ensure that:
- Making a complaint is as easy as possible
- We treat your complaint seriously and with the utmost professionalism
- We deal with your complaint promptly and in confidence
- We learn from complaints and use them to review and improve our service
We will strive to deal with any complaints effectively, with the aim of resolving the issue as quickly as possible, to the satisfaction of the customer.
Learners should make complaint to ACED Qualifications who will do their upmost to resolve the concern before making a complaint to the awarding organisation.
How to make a complaint
If you wish to make a complaint you can contact the head of centre, by email to: ac****************@*****ok.com
Complaints procedure
If we receive a complaint, we will try to resolve it immediately if we can and notify you of the outcome. We will send:
- An acknowledgement within two working days
- Details of who will be dealing with the complaint
- Final response within 10 working days
If we are unable to resolve the complaint immediately, we will:
- Ask for any further information required
- Within 10 working days:
- Send a response
- Update you and state when we hope to complete our investigations
We record all complaints and review them to consider if we need to make any changes to improve our services or prevent a re-occurrence. If you are not satisfied with the response from the Managing Director you can escalate your complaint to the relevant Awarding Body.
Details of our Awarding Bodies are: NCFE, www.ncfe.org.uk. 0191 239 8000. NCFE, Q6, Quorom Business Park, Benton Lane, Newcastle Upon. Tyne. NE12 8BT
If you are not satisfied with the response from the Awarding Body you can escalate your complaint further to the qualification regulator Ofqual.
Appeals Policy
The policy is to ensure learners understand what to do should they wish to appeal against a decision in relation to their portfolio of work or their external assessment.
Aced Qualifications is committed to achieving the highest of professional standards based on impartial, reliable and valid assessment judgments when assessing learners work submitted for the purpose of accreditation towards a qualification.
We aim to carry out this with openness and fairness, however there may be incidents when assessment decisions are questioned. The purpose of this policy is to acknowledge the rights of all learners who feel disadvantaged by an assessment decision and clearly identify the process of appeal. Nothing in this policy shall diminish the rights of any students to appeal under awarding bodies own appeals procedures.
Aim
- To enable the learner to enquire, question or appeal against an assessment decision.
- To attempt to reach agreement between the learner and the assessor at the earliest opportunity.
- To standardise and record any appeal to ensure openness and fairness.
To protect the interests of all learners and the integrity of the qualification. In order to do this, Aced Qualifications will:
- inform the learner at induction of the Appeals Policy and procedure.
- Have an up to date copy of the policy accessible on the learning portal home page.
- record, track and validate any appeal.
- keep appeals records for inspection by the awarding body for a minimum of 24 months.
- have a staged appeals procedure.
- take appropriate action to protect the interests of other learners and the integrity of the qualification, when the outcome of an appeal questions the validity of other results.
- monitor appeals by head of centre to inform quality improvement.
Scope
To ensure that there are clear procedures for learners to enable them to enquire, question or appeal against an assessment decision.
Responsibilities & Duties
A designated centre contact is responsible for adhering to this policy: Head of Centre- Deborah Hayward.
Overview of appeals
The purpose of an appeal is to ascertain if we have applied the correct processes, procedures and policies in a fair and consistent way.
Who can submit an appeal?
Learners and/or their parents or legal guardians are permitted to submit an appeal directly to Aced Qualifications.
Policy Stages
1 – INFORMAL: learner consults with the assessor within a period of 2 weeks following the assessment decision, to discuss an assessment decision. The learner can contact the assessor directly through the chat facility or through email or the centre head to start the process. If unresolved, then the issues are documented before moving to stage 2.
2 – REVIEW: review of assessment decisions of the assessor by the internal moderator. Learner notified of findings and agrees or disagrees, in writing, with outcome within a period of 1 week. If unresolved, move to stage 3.
3 – APPEAL TO HEAD OF CENTRE: review of assessment decisions of the assessor by the Head of Centre. within a period of 2 weeks.
Recording appeals: each stage should be recorded, dated and show either agreement or disagreement with decisions. Documents must be kept for a minimum of 24 months.
Monitoring of appeals: undertaken by Head of Centre to inform development and quality improvement.
Note:
NCFE specifies detailed criteria for the internal assessment of work. Appeals against matters outside the centre’s control will not be considered in its appeals procedure.
