Complaints Policy

1. Purpose

UK Skills Academy (UKSA) is committed to providing the best possible service that we can. We recognise that sometimes *customers (learners are customers of our services) will feel that they have cause to complain about the service they have received, therefore we encourage all feedback from customers, including complaints, and have developed a Complaints Policy and an associated Complaints Procedure.

UKSA Complaints Policy explains our broad approach to handling all complaints. Our Complaints Procedure provides clear information on how individual complaints will be handled.

Reports relating to complaints will be responded to in accordance with our policies and procedures. If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your complaint, this will be dealt with as a failure of service under the terms of our Complaints Policy.

The Senior Leadership Team and all those in managerial or supervisory roles are responsible for developing and encouraging good customer care handling practice within their teams.

Compliance with the Customer Complaints Policy is the responsibility of all members of the Company who deal with customers.

2. Aim

UKSA aim to resolve complaints quickly, fairly, and effectively. We will:

• Aim to put things right quickly for our customers when they go wrong
• Keep our customers informed of the progress of their complaint and the results of any investigation
• Seek to learn from each complaint to improve future performance
• Set performance targets for responding to complaints and monitor our performance against these targets
• Advise our customers of their right to appeal if they remain dissatisfied after their
• complaint has been through all stages of the internal Complaints Procedure

How to complain

If you are unhappy with the service provided by UKSA, whether it is the learning experience, assessment, the support you are receiving or about staff or the organisation itself; we promise to take your complaint seriously and treat it as confidential. We also aim to resolve your complaint as speedily as possible.

If you have a complaint about any decision that we have made that affects you, for example, if you feel that you have received the wrong grade for an assessment, or you disagree with an examination result, you should use the relevant Awarding Organisation’s appeals procedures, which we can advise you on. For all other issues and grievances, use this Complaints Procedure.

We welcome the receipt of compliments and complaints because they help us improve the service we provide, both for you and others. We are also interested in your ideas for improving our services. We use the information you give only to improve things. Passing on personal information about you is protected under GDPR.

If you want to complain, here is what you can do:

It helps if you make us aware as soon as possible, we can then work with the relevant parties to put things right immediately.

• You should make your complaint within 3 months of the event or problem occurring
• Include as much information as possible
• Provide any evidence you feel may help us in resolving your complaint.
• Provide full contact details and preference. We may need to contact you throughout the process

You can register a formal complaint by emailing [email protected] regardless of the complaint we will respond to you within 48 hours with a detailed response and where needed, a clear plan of action with timescales. We then aim to have a full written resolution to your complaint within 4 weeks. We may need to contact you via telephone, so please provide full contact details and preference.

Escalation

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can appeal the outcome to the Chief Executive, please request contact information formerly once your resolution has been provided.

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, then you can escalate this to the appropriate Awarding Organisation and if required, to the qualifications regulator at the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual).

Any external complaints related to our supply chain or partners will be dealt with considering the same process.

Customers have a right to express dissatisfaction with the services they receive from UKSA and can expect to be treated fairly and without discrimination. UKSA has an Equality,

Diversity and Inclusion Policy that covers all aspects of equality.

5. Monitoring

UKSA is committed to continuous improvement in service delivery.

Our service standards for complaints are:

• We will make it easy and straightforward for you to make a complaint
• We will endeavour to respond to your complaint within the published timescales and keep you informed

• We will ensure you have a full explanation to your complaint in your preferred format
• We will tell you if changes have been made to services following your complaint
• We will review our Complaints Policy at regular intervals.
• We will review the context of our complaints for trends and service improvements

Responsibility for review : Gemma Fletcher Chief Executive Officer

Review Date: October 2026