You should complete the Level 2 Complaint Form within 1 month of notification of the outcome of Level 1.
You must provide a clear explanation of how you attempted to resolve your complaint informally at Level 1. As a minimum, your explanation should include a specific date, a named member of staff to whom the complaint was reported and why the complaint was not resolved to your satisfaction at Level 1.
Your complaint must be substantiated by evidence. This may comprise one, or a series of the following types of evidence: a timeline of events, reference to relevant policies, procedures and/or regulations, letters, emails, independent medical evidence, reports by professionals, witness statements, screenshots etc. Any evidence or appendices relevant to the complaint must be submitted at the same time as the complaint form and clearly referenced and labelled.
If you are making a Subject Access request as part of your complaint, you are expected to submit this as soon as practicably possible after the outcome of your Level 1 complaint and to provide evidence of submission as part of your Level 2 complaint.
It is your responsibility to make your case. Complaints will not be accepted for further investigation if:
- your rationale for complaint is unclear
- you don’t provide evidence
- you fail to include important dates, times and other details necessary for determining the eligibility of the complaint.
You are required to ensure that any evidence not written in English is translated and provided at the same time as the complaint paperwork.
If your submission is unclear or unnecessarily long, you will be asked to resubmit the form in a manner that enables proper consideration of the complaint to take place.
You will normally receive an outcome letter within 6 weeks of receipt of your Level 2 complaint form by the Admissions Team. If the investigation will take longer than 6 weeks, you will be informed of the reason and an expected date of response.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome, you can escalate your complaint to Level 3 on the following grounds:
- you believe that a procedural irregularity has occurred in the handling and/or the investigation of the Level 2 complaint and/or;
- you are in possession of additional evidence which may have affected the outcome at Level 2 but was unavailable at the time of the original Level 2 investigation and/or;
- you have a compelling argument to demonstrate that the outcome at Level 2 was unreasonable. Claims of this nature must be supported by evidence and a clear rationale for the unreasonable nature of the decision. Claims that amount simply to an expression of dissatisfaction with the decision will not be considered.
You should submit the Level 3 Complaint Form within 10 working days of notification of the outcome of the Level 2 complaint.
You must set out the grounds of the complaint by making reference to the above standards, and must provide evidence to support your claim, including proof of why new evidence being presented was not available at the time of the submission of your Level 2 complaint.
You will normally receive an outcome letter within 4 weeks of receipt of your level 3 complaint form by the Admissions Team. If the review will take longer than 4 weeks, you will be informed of the reason and an expected date of response.