Appeals Procedure

You can appeal against any assessment decision within 21 days when you first receive your feedback. You will be expected to explain the basis of your disagreement to the assessor as soon as possible. The assessor will respond to your query and provide an explanation, which might be based on the assessment criteria and standardised procedures. This stage of the appeal is regarded as the informal negotiation stage. If the disagreement has not been resolved, both the assessor and learner should request advice promptly from the course internal moderator who will try to resolve the issue. If this is not possible, the Appeals Procedure shown below should be invoked. No further assessment should take place while the appeals procedure has been fully invoked! Records of all formal appeals will be recorded and will be made available to our regulators. Learners can appeal against the following:

• The assessment plan – the learner can appeal if they do not agree with the suggested methods, location, time and criteria

• The assessment – the learner has the right to appeal if they feel that the assessment differed from what was agreed on the assessment plan or they feel that they did not receive a fair assessment.

• The assessment was inconsistently or not in accordance with the specification for the qualification.

• If the Learner is dissatisfied with the re-assessment opportunities offered.

• If the Learner’s assessment performance has been affected by ill health. In this case, the appeal must be supported by a medical certificate. Please refer to our extenuating policy.

• The assessment decision – the learner can appeal if they feel the assessor’s judgment was unfair.

• If the Learner is dissatisfied with the time allowed for the assessment.

Formal Appeals Procedure ( Stage 2)

If, after the informal discussion with the assessor, the learner wishes to make a formal appeal, the learner must complete our appeals form which can be downloaded on this site under forms. This form will be passed over to the Internal Moderator. Your completed appeals form must be submitted within 5 working days after the informal stage with your assessor had been completed. The Internal moderator on receipt of the formal appeal from the learner will

• Try to seek a solution negotiated between the relevant assessor and learner

• They may express their opinion about the merits of the complaint.

• Make a quality assurance decision such as asking for further learning or assessment opportunities to be observed.

• If it is not possible to reach an agreement then a date will be set for an Appeals Panel to meet within 28 days.

The Appeals Panel will consist of a minimum of two qualified assessors not involved in the original decision. The outcome of the appeal may be as follows: • Confirmation of the original decision

• A re-assessment by an independent assessor

• One of the assessor should be an internal moderator

• A judgment that adequate evidence meeting the assessment criteria has been shown;

• An opportunity to re-submit for assessment within a revised agreed timescale.

• The written decision of the Appeals Panel will be issued to the learner within five working days after the meeting.

The Panel’s findings will be copied to the Centre Manager and recorded for awarding body inspection. If the candidate is still not satisfied with the decision at this stage and this procedure has been exhausted, then the candidate can contact the awarding body they are registered with. The awarding body should only be contacted when this procedure is FULLY exhausted. Please note, the awarding body will request you to do so even if you try to bypass our procedures!