The Students’ Association aims always to serve the interests of its members, in compliance with all relevant legal requirements and best practise. However, we recognise that aspects of our operations may occasionally fall short of expectations.

Anyone who wishes to raise a complaint to the Association may do so.

Complaints may relate to any aspect of our operations, such as:

• Poor service, including advice
• Issues relating to equal opportunities or discrimination, including harassment, bullying, or bias
• Unacceptable conduct by staff or student officers
• Breach of legal duties or code of practise

Formal complaints should be sent to our HR Manager, Iain Cupples (inc@). If the complaint involves the HR Manager, it may instead be sent to our General Manager, Dave Whitton (dbw1@).

Complaints should clearly state:

• The extent and nature of the issue
• The outcome you are seeking
• Any actions taken to resolve the complaint so far, such as talking to the member of staff concerned or their supervisor.

Complaints should be made as soon as possible, as undue delay may make complaints harder to resolve.

Our actions

The HR Manager will respond within 5 working days to formally acknowledge receipt of the complaint.

If the HR Manager judges the complaint to be trivial or vexatious, they may respond to say so.

Where the issue relates to a student officer or Councils policy, the complaint will be passed on to the Association President, or the Director of Events and Services if the complaint involves the President.

Where the issue relates to a service department, the HR Manager will investigate further, normally by contacting the relevant head of department and any other staff involved in the complaint. Where appropriate, the complaint will be dealt with under our Grievance Policy or Staff Discipline Policy.

The HR Manager will give a full response to the complaint within 20 working days.

Appeals

If you remain dissatisfied after the HR Manager's response, you may appeal to the Chair of Board, who will review the issue and respond within a further 20 working days.

Timescale

The Association reserves the right to extend the timeline for response in the case of major complaints, particularly in relation to the final resolution of a complaint. We will notify the complainant in such cases. Extensions may also apply during University vacation periods.

'Working days' are defined as Monday to Friday, excluding holidays.