Complaints

The Complaints Policy and Procedure is available for use by students, staff and members of the public.

Where possible, a complaint should be submitted by the individual concerned. If a complaint is received from a third party (e.g. parent or guardian), data protection protocols will be observed.

The Complaints Procedure can be used to raise concerns about policies, processes, facilities or services provided by the University or about actions or lack of actions by the University or its staff.

Where concerns relate to matters over which the University has no jurisdiction and can take no action, a formal complaint will not be considered. For example, if somebody wishes to complain about inconsiderate parking off-campus, concerns should be directed to the local council or the police.

The Complaints Policy and Procedure covers issues relating to facilities, course provision or delivery, accommodation but is not the mechanism to review or change an academic outcome.

If a student wishes to raise an issue directly related to their academic assessment (Exam Board or committee outcome), they will likely need to submit an appeal. Information about academic Appeals.

The appeals procedures can only ever provide an academic outcome and must be initiated within specified timeframes immediately after receiving academic results or committee outcome.

Examples of when the University reserves the right not to consider the complaint for Stage Two investigation:

• The request is made outside the stipulated timeframe
• The issues raised have been sufficiently considered and responded to and there is no further action the University could reasonably take
• The request is considered malicious or vexatious
• The complaint is made anonymously
• The case should be handled via a different University policy/procedure

The University reserves the right not to investigate or act upon anonymous complaints, those raised on behalf of an anonymous third party or where a third party makes a complaint on behalf of someone else without their written consent.

Yes. If there is common concern / issue between a group of students and they wish to bring the matter to the attention of the University, then this is possible. See further information in the Complaints Policy and Procedure.

Yes, a complaint will not usually be considered without supporting evidence.

Examples include:

• Published information
• Correspondence (e.g. emails)
• Medical evidence
• Reports by professionals
• Financial information
• Witness statements

Any screenshots should have a name/student number (and where possible, the date) clearly visible.

If any information/evidence relates to another person, you must ensure you have their consent to share it and explain in your complaint who the evidence relates to.

If your complaint is submitted more than three months after the relevant events, the University reserves the right not to consider it.

A formal complaint should be submitted within 10 working days of the failure to resolve the issues through early resolution. 

Email complaints@cardiffmet.ac.uk with as much information as possible, including the below. If you do not include all of the below information this may lead to a delay in investigating your complaint.

• Name (and student number, if appropriate)
• Your details - whether you are a student, staff member, visitor, or member of the public
• Details of your complaint (what, where, when)
• Any action taken to resolve informally (include dates)
• Outcome sought
• Supporting Evidence

Cardiff Metropolitan University is committed to the principle of treating English and Welsh on an equal basis. You are entitled to submit a complaint in Welsh and if you indicate you would prefer to receive future related correspondence and information through the medium of Welsh, the University will endeavour to facilitate this

In most cases it will not be necessary or helpful for a complainant to be legally represented and this would only be appropriate in very exceptional circumstances. Any queries should be directed to the complaints team.

We aim to provide you with an outcome to your complaint as soon as possible, in any case within 30 working days.

In some cases where the complaints are complex, where multiple people are involved or when key people are unavailable to participate in the investigation, a complaint may take longer. The team will however keep you up to date with the progress and give you an indication of when you will receive an outcome/update and the reasons for any delay.

Not all complaints are upheld and we appreciate that in such a case, the complainant is unlikely to be happy with the Stage Two outcome, however, a complaint can only be escalated further if certain grounds are met (see below).

If you believe the outcome of a Stage Two investigation is unreasonable or an aspect of your complaint has not fully been considered, you can request a review of the investigation (Stage Three) within 10 working days of receiving the Stage Two outcome.

A request for review should be submitted via email to complaints@cardiffmet.ac.uk but will only be accepted on one or more of the following grounds:

• that there has been a procedural error in the Stage Two investigation;
• that new evidence is available, which you could not reasonably have been expected to produce at an earlier stage;
• that the outcome was not reasonable in the circumstances.

If the request is accepted, the Stage Two investigation will be reviewed by someone not involved in the earlier stages.

At the end of the review, any recommendations will be communicated to all involved and you may be issued with a Completion of Procedures (COP) letter.

The OIA (Office of the Independent Adjudicator) is an external ombudsman which considers appeals and complaints relating to the Higher Education sector in England and Wales.

Once a student has pursued an appeal or a complaint through their own University’s procedures, if they are still not happy, they have up to twelve months to make a complaint to the OIA who will investigate, if the complaint is eligible. In order to submit a complaint to the OIA, a student must have received a ‘Completion of Procedures letter’ which sets out how the matter(s) have been investigated by Cardiff Metropolitan University.