5. What happens next?
On receipt of your complaint, we will check:
- If we fund the course/provider
- If we falls into one of the categories, we can investigate,
- If the original decision or action complained about occurred more than 12 months ago,
- Whether you have exhausted the Provider's complaints procedure including any appeals process.
We will acknowledge receipt and we will also inform you of whether the complaint is one that we can investigate. If we cannot investigate your complaint, we may also signpost you to another organization that may be able to help you.
Within 10 working days of receiving the complaint, we will send the response.
If you contact us after exhausting the provider's complaint procedure, you must provide evidence along with the completed checklist. We will then ask the provider to share with us:
- Details and copies of the relevant procedure,
- Confirmation that their procedures have been exhausted,
- A response to the summary of complaint, together with relevant documents,
- Confirmation that we can share the information provided with the complaint,
If the provider's procedures have not been exhausted, we will let you know that we will not investigate the matter further until that has happened. If we decide the Provider has unduly delayed resolving the complaint or will not resolve the complaint within a reasonable timescale, we may continue to investigate. If we determine that you are self-funded, we will write to you to say that we cannot investigate the matter further. If we need more information, we may contact those involved to get further information or evidence.
If at any point during the investigation, we encounter a delay in responding to or providing correspondence, we will notify you of the delay and provide details of when you can expect a response.