Enquiries and Appeals Policy

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Purpose

Safety Training Awards is committed to providing an efficient and high standard of service to all. We are continually working to achieve this high level of service by maintaining quality assurance standards which are compliant with regulatory requirements. It is our aim to ensure that all assessment outcomes are fair, consistent, and reliable based on the valid judgements of the assessor using the assessment strategy for the qualification in question. However, occasions may arise where the training provider or learner may wish to question a decision.

STA as the awarding organisation is responsible for ensuring that all appeal decisions are:

• Taken by individuals who have no personal interest in the decision being appealed
• Dealt with by at least one decision maker who is not an employee of the awarding organisation, an assessor working for it, or otherwise connected to it
• Always taken by persons who have appropriate competence.

STA staff are required to follow the related procedures in order to deal with enquiries about results and appeals as effectively as possible. ATCs are responsible for ensuring that all personnel involved in the management, delivery and assessment of STA qualifications are fully aware of the policy and conversant with the related procedures. ATCs must have their own internal appeal arrangements in place and provide easy access to them for learners who wish to appeal against a decision taken by the ATC. Where appropriate, the ATC’s own appeals procedures must be exhausted before an appeal is raised with the awarding organisation.

Policy

Safety Training Awards will ensure that:

• Assessments are carried out by assessors who have the appropriate qualifications, knowledge, understanding, and skills, and the assessments are valid for the subject or qualification in question
• Assessment evidence is authentic, solely being produced by the learner in question
• The consistency of assessments decisions covering all assessors over time
• Appeals are heard by individuals that have the appropriate competence to make decisions in each individual case and have had no prior involvement, or a personal interest in the case.

Everyone has the right to appeal if they believe that their assessment decision, or a decision following a malpractice or maladministration investigation is incorrect. This policy will define the stages and procedures you would need to follow, guidance is as follows:

• The process you need to follow to submit an enquiry or appeal
• The timescales for an enquiry or appeal
• How and when you will be notified of the outcome.

Safety Training Awards will accept an appeal in relation to the following:

• Appeals against results of assessment or quality assurance
• Appeals against a decision made relating to a reasonable adjustment or special considerations application
• Appeals against decisions relating to any action taken against a learner or ATC following an investigation into malpractice or maladministration
• Appeals against ATC or qualification approval decisions.

Safety Training Awards have this Enquiries and Appeals Policy available on our website so all learners’ and training providers can access this information or can request a copy by contacting us. We are committed to providing an equal opportunity for all, where possible to communicate with us. Therefore, if a learner or training provider wishes to enquire or appeal against an assessment decision they have clear guidance on how to proceed.

Firstly, we advise all learners’ to discuss any concerns or enquiries relating to the result of the assessment with the assessor to resolve the issue. If you are not satisfied with the outcome then please contact us at Safety Training Awards for further advice and guidance or refer to the guide within this policy.

Stage 1: Enquiries Regarding Assessment Decisions

If a learner wishes to question an assessment result they should initially discuss their concerns with the Approved Training Centres (ATC) tutor / assessor and follow the ATCs appeal process. If the learner is not satisfied with the outcome the ATCs tutor / assessor and learner should complete stage 1 of the enquiries and appeals form which is available to download from the ATC Resources area of the website. This must be submitted to Safety Training Awards within 28 days of the final results being issued to the learners.

Safety Training Awards will acknowledge receipt of the enquiry within 7 working days, this will be followed promptly by the adjudication process. Safety Training Awards will appoint the relevant manager to act as an adjudicator who has not had any involvement with the case. The adjudicator will consider the written submission from the course tutor / assessor and learner and will review the procedures that were followed to reach the result decision, this may include contacting other parties who were included within the course.

The adjudicator may instruct that a further re-mark or reassessment should take place if they consider that the assessment procedures were not adequately followed.

Please note, Safety Training Awards cannot alter a practical assessment decision which has required the Learner to demonstrate practical competence. However, as reassessment may be granted if the assessment procedures have not taken place as per the criteria.

The ATC tutor / assessor and learner will be notified of the adjudication outcome as soon as it is available, within a maximum of 28 days.

If the ATC tutor / assessor and learner are not satisfied with the enquiry outcome of stage 1, they may escalate the decision to stage 2 of this process. Please complete stage 2 of the enquiries and appeal form and submit this to Safety Training Awards with any supporting evidence.

Stage 2: Appeal

A stage 2 appeal must be submitted within 14 days of the stage 1 enquiry decision being received, accompanied with an administration fee of £50. Safety Training Awards will acknowledge receipt of this appeal within 7 working days. The appellant will be contacted within 14 days to outline the procedures that will be adopted.

Where sanctions have been applied to an ATC, STA Tutor, Assessor, IQA due to an area of concern or non-compliance, if they wish to appeal the decision this may be done by submitting their reasons via email to compliance@safetytrainingawards.co.uk within 14 days of the sanction decision being issued. Please ensure the ATC, STA Tutor, Assessor, IQA name, reference number and ‘Appeal request’ title is included in the subject box, this must be accompanied with an administration fee of £50 as noted above.

Safety Training Awards will acknowledge receipt of this appeal within 7 working days. The appellant will be contacted within 14 days to outline the procedures that will be adopted.
Safety Training Awards will make arrangements for the Safety Training Awards Appeals Committee to promptly hear the appeal at our STA head office or via a remote meeting. You may attend and have one representative present at the appeal hearing.

The appeal committee consisting of senior managers or other individuals deemed to be appropriately competent, who have no personal interest in the decision being appealed and an independent person who is not an employee, assessor or otherwise connected to Safety Training Awards will evaluate the procedures used for consistency with Safety Training Awards procedures to review if the previous decision was reached fairly.

The appeal committee are unable to re-mark or reassess work but may instruct that a further re-mark or reassessment should take place if they consider that the procedures were not adequately followed.

The appeal committee will make the final decision and notify the appellant of the outcome by letter as soon as it is available, within a maximum of 28 days. If the appeal is upheld the appeal administration fees will be reimbursed to the appellant.

If the outcome of an appeal at any stage leads to Safety Training Awards discovering a failure in the assessment process an investigation shall be conducted to determine if there are any other learners’ affected, and if there are any adverse effects arising from the failure. If this is the case, Safety Training Awards shall promptly implement the adverse effects procedure and take decisive action to correct the failure, or if this is not possible to reduce the impact of the failure on any learners’.

Referral to Regulatory Authority

If the learner is not satisfied with the appeal committee’s decision they may refer their complaint to the appropriate Regulatory Authority i.e. Ofqual (England), SQA Accreditation (Scotland) or Qualifications Wales (Wales). Please note that the regulators are unable to overturn an assessment decision. Please see below for the relevant contact details.

Monitoring and Review

Following an appeal decision that is upheld due to a failure in Safety Training Awards assessment process, or notification of failure in the assessment processes of other awarding organisations, policies and procedures shall be reviewed to ensure that the failure does not reoccur. This policy and its procedures will be reviewed annually as part of our quality assurance requirements to ensure it is fit for purpose, reflects the type of appeals that we may receive and ensure the process is managed in accordance with regulatory requirements.

Contact Details

Safety Training Awards

Please click here to view contact details for Safety Training Awards.

Ofqual (England)

Complaints
Ofqual
Earlsdon Park
53–55 Butts Road
Coventry
CV1 3BH

Tel: 0300 303 3344 (the phone line is open on weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00)
Website: ofqual.gov.uk
Email: complaints@ofqual.gov.uk

SQA Accreditation (Scotland)

SQA Accreditation
The Optima Building
58 Robertson Street
Glasgow
G2 8DQ

Tel: 0345 213 5249
Website: accreditation.sqa.org.uk
Email: accreditation@sqa.org.uk

For complaints relating to schools or public leisure centres in Scotland, a complaint can be raised with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

In Person

SPSO
Bridgeside House
99 McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NS

By Post

Freepost SPSO (this is all you need to write on the envelope, and you don’t need to use a stamp)

Website: www.spso.org.uk
Freephone advice line: 0800 377 7330
Fax: 0800 377 7331

Qualifications Wales (Wales)

Qualifications Wales
Q2 Building, Pencarn Lane
Imperial Park
Coedkernew
Newport
NP10 8AR

Tel: 01633 373 222
Website: qualificationswales.org
Email: enquiries@qualificationswales.org (if you wish to make a complaint, please title your email ‘Complaint’)

Last Updated: 12th December 2024