Making a Complaint about the Students' Union

We’re sorry to hear you might have a complaint. We value all feedback and take your thoughts and opinions seriously. You can find out how to pass a complaint on to us below.

To complain about the Students’ Union, email the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Phoebe Daniels, via phoebe.daniels.su@uca.ac.uk 

To complain about an elected officer, email the Chief Executive Officer, Kyley Winfield, via kyley.winfield.su@uca.ac.uk

Complaints and Disciplinary Procedure

  1. General

1.1 Complaints about the Union, the actions of an individual officer or member of any Union committee in relation to the powers granted to each within the Constitution, shall be dealt with by the Board of Trustees.

1.2 Complaints about a member in relation to their general responsibilities as members shall be dealt with under the Disciplinary Procedure of these by-laws.

1.3 Any member of the Union has the right to initiate a complaint if they are dissatisfied in their dealings with the Union.

1.4 All complaints concerning elected officers shall be brought to the Chief Executive.

1.5 All complaints concerning the Chief Executive shall be brought to a Sabbatical Officer.

1.6 All complaints concerning a member of staff shall be brought to their line manager.

1.7 The addressee shall attempt to resolve the matter informally within five (5) University days.

  1. Complaints Committee

2.1 If the complainants are not satisfied with the outcome, the addressee shall follow the disciplinary procedure for staff members or, in the case that elected officers are implicated, the Complaints Committee will be convened within a further ten (10) University days.

2.2 The Complaints Committee shall comprise of:

  • An appropriate staff member from another Union or the National Union of Students.
  • A Student Trustee.
  • An External Trustee.
  • The Chief Executive (who shall act as clerk).

2.3 After meeting to discuss the complaint and hear the case for the complainants and those implicated, the Complaints Committee shall either:

  • 2.3.1 Make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees to treat the complaint as a HR matter and follow the Staff Disciplinary Procedure.
  • 2.3.2 Advise how to initiate a petition for a vote of no-confidence.

2.4 If the complainants are not satisfied with the outcome they may go to the University’s Clerk to the Board of Governors and request an investigation by an independent person.

  1. Disciplinary Procedure

3.1 Clubs, societies, and members of the Union shall be expected to abide by the Constitution and its schedules at all times, as well as the Union’s Equality and Diversity policy.

3.2 The Union’s Disciplinary Procedure has authority over any premises managed by the Union and any Union activities, including those of any Union club or society, or misconduct outside Union premises that relates to the Union and may affect its reputation.

3.3 If a student, club, or society is deemed to have breached the rules of the Union their conduct shall be examined by the Disciplinary Committee.

  1. Disciplinary Committee

4.1 The Disciplinary Committee shall be convened within ten (10) University days of the alleged offence occurring. The student(s) shall be given written notification at least three (3) University days before the hearing.

4.2 The Disciplinary Committee shall comprise of:

  • All sabbatical officers.
  • An appropriate staff member from another Union or the NUS (not the same member as the Complaints Committee).
  • A Student Trustee (not the same member as the Complaints Committee).
  • An External Trustee (not the same as the Complaints Committee).
  • The Chief Executive (to act as clerk).
  1. Complaints process

5.1 The following complaints procedure shall be made available to all students or groups of students who are dissatisfied in their dealings with the Union or claim to be unfairly disadvantaged by having exercised their right to opt out of membership 5.2 Any complaint about the Union shall be addressed to the Chair of the Board of Trustees. 5.2.1 In any circumstances where the complaint relates to the Chair it shall be addressed to another Sabbatical Officer. 5.3 The Chair shall investigate and make a written reply within fifteen (15) University days. 5.4 If the complainant is not satisfied with the response they may appeal to the Clerk of the Board of Governors of the University for the Creative Arts. 5.4.1 The Clerk shall investigate and respond to the complainant within fifteen (15) University days, seeking advice from Union trustees who were not part of the original investigation. 5.5 If the complainant remains dissatisfied with the response provided by the Clerk to the Board of Governors, the University for the Creative Arts’ Board of Governors shall appoint an independent person and a Union external trustee to consider and resolve the complaint. 5.5.1 This decision shall be final. 1.Members who complain will also be referred to standing mechanisms in the constitution to remove officers and change the policy of the Union.

See contact page for other Sabbatical Officer details HERE.

 

Complaints - the three-stage process

There may come a time where you feel let down, like your expectations have not been met or there is something you are not entirely happy with. UCA has put together a three-stage complaints process, designed to address your issue in a structured and efficient way for everyone involved. They would always want to address your concerns as they arise, and in most cases, the complaint can be resolved informally. There will be no backlash on you as a student or on your studies if you decide to make a complaint. Everything is kept confidential unless you consent for us to share it with a person relevant to the case. With any complaints, you can visit the Students' Union office on campus or contact the ASK Team, and we can explain how it works and provide support.

If you'd like to read about the complaints process in detail, you can check out UCA's complaints policy.

 

Stage 1: Local

This is the first attempt at resolving any complaint, in an informal or local way. This consists of a conversation taking place between yourself or your group, and the person you are complaining about whether that be staff or another student. This conversation can be set up by the Students' Union, and a member of the SU can be present to support, mediate and advocate for you if that is something you would like. This can also be coordinated by a Faculty Complaints Coordinator. Having vocalised your complaint in the meeting, the student or staff member of concern should then look into the problem and work with you to come up with a resolution.
 

Stage 2: The University

If the local attempt does not resolve your complaint and you are still feeling dissatisfied with the outcome, then you can move it to a stage 2 complaint at the university level. To do that, you must fill out a form and send it to the Quality Manager for appeals and complaints. You will need to outline the specific details of your complaint and explain why it was not resolved at stage 1. You can download the form fromMyUCA (‘Student Complaints and Appeals’ tab). As always, the Students' Union can be there to support you with this each step of the way. The Complaints Policy details the regulations and procedures of the University’s complaints process. The University always welcomes feedback on the policy itself, so if you feel there are areas that aren’t working as well as they could, please let the Students’ Union know so we can pass your comments on to the appropriate person.
 

Stage 3: The Appeal

On the occasion that your complaint has not been resolved at stage 1 or 2, then you can appeal by writing to the Vice Chancellor. The guidance says you should do this if there is new evidence, if the decision is unreasonable or if a procedural error has taken place. The university and Students' Union would always hope that your complaint can be resolved at stage 1 or 2, though this stage exists to ensure that each complaint is dealt with properly and to the student’s satisfaction.

 

Further Contacts

In a very small number of cases, in the event that the University is not able to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction at any of these stages, you may want to make a formal complaint to the Office of the Independant Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA). The OIA is an independent body set up to review student complaints. Free to students, the OIA deals with individual complaints against Higher Education Institutions in England and Wales.

 

Complaints against other students

If another student has been treating you unfairly, or if you have a complaint to make against them, this is a two-stage process. Similarly to the university complaints procedure, we would always hope things can be resolved informally. The first stage is an informal mediation session between the students involved, and the ASK Team at the Students' Union. This is an attempt to talk through issues maturely, and come up with a way to resolve things. This might be making some house rules if it's a housemate, or setting some boundaries with each other.

If this is not successful, and the informal process does not resolve the issues, you can make a complaint against the student under the Student Code of Conduct. Please click here to read through the code of conduct, and find out if the person in question has violated the code. If you feel you have grounds to make a report, you can do so by contacting Gateway for your campus, or your tutor. You can put together a report and pass it over to them. The university will investigate this, and depending on what has happened, some possible outcomes are a written warning, a fine of up to a maximum of £500, restrictions on access (e.g. to Students' Union bar or to University managed residential accommodation) or requirement to pay a reasonable sum by way of compensation. This is not an exhaustive list of outcomes, you can read more about this here.

 

Complaints Best Practice

When making a complaint, there are some things that will help your case and things that will not. If you feel like you might need help with how to best go about making your complaint, you are more than welcome to come to the Students' Union for advice, by contacting the ASK Team or coming into the office. Please see our guidance on complaints best practice here:

  • Include as much information as possible, including specific times and dates (if you can), specific phrases used in the situation, or any other detailed specifics of the event.
  • Try to recall the order of events.
  • Try to be as specific as possible and see if you are able to identify each individual involved in the most detail you can.
  • Emotions may be running high based on the event, particularly going through the details and recalling it. Despite this, you best have a case if you recall it in a calm and mature manner.