This section tells you how to complain if you are unhappy with the service you have received from QAA. When the service we provide is not as good as it should be, we want to know so that we can put it right.
Please let us know if you feel dissatisfied with any aspect of our service, including, for example:
- complaints about the work or conduct of QAA staff or a contractor (reviewer, associate) working for QAA
- complaints about the accuracy of the information on our website
- complaints that a review has not been conducted according to the published method.
In the first instance, if you are not happy with the service you have received from QAA please tell the person you have been dealing with so that they can provide an explanation.
How we investigate your complaint
If you are not satisfied with the explanation you receive, please write to us setting out your complaint. Your correspondence should be addressed to the Head of Concerns and Complaints, who will then decide who is the best person to respond to your complaint.
If the Head of Concerns and Complaints considers that your correspondence raises issues of service quality, he will refer it to the Head of Corporate Affairs, who will respond to you. If the Head of Corporate Affairs decides that you have raised a serious issue relating to quality of service, he will refer the complaint to the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive will then appoint an investigating officer. We will make sure that the investigating officer does not have a conflict of interests with the subject of the complaint.
The findings of the investigation
At the end of the investigation, the investigating officer will present their findings to the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive will then write to you with our response. Where we find that things have gone wrong, we will tell you what we have done to put things right. We will keep a record of service complaints and include these in our annual report on concerns and complaints to the QAA Board.
Standards of service
We strive to investigate complaints quickly and thoroughly. The timeline below gives further information about the time it takes to investigate complaints. In many cases it will be possible for us to complete our work in less time than the timeline indicates; in exceptional cases it will take longer.
We are responsible to our Board for completing our work within these timescales and we report to them about this annually.
- By end of week 0 - Complaint received
- By end of week 1 - We will acknowledge receipt of the complaint in writing
- By end of week 2 - We will tell you whether we can investigate your complaint
- By end of week 4 - We will tell you whether your complaint is proceeding to a full investigation
- By end of week 12 - We will inform you of the outcome of the investigation