Complaints

Your Students’ Union is committed to listening and responding to the views of all those using the opportunities, services and facilities provided by the Students’ Union and to learn from complaints to help us improve the Students’ Union.

Complaint Process

All complaints submitted to the Students’ Union will follow the process outlined in our complaints policy. We aim to resolve any complaints as early as possible and to keep you updated throughout the process.

Please note that complaints received after 9 months of the event(s) occurring will usually not be accepted unless you can explain and evidence significant circumstances that prevented you from engaging with the Students’ Union complaints process.

We would strongly recommend that you read the complaints policy in full before submitting a complaint.

When you submit a complaint, please provide as much detail as possible. This will prevent the need for us to ask further questions, which could slow down the process.

When your complaint is submitted, the Students’ Union Complaints and Misconduct Team (acting as the CEO’s nominee) will acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days. The initial review of the complaint will determine whether it is suitable for consideration under the Students’ Union complaint policy or whether it needs to be referred or redirected to another procedure or process.

If suitable to be considered under the Students’ Union complaints policy, the Students’ Union Complaints and Misconduct Team (acting as the CEO’s nominee) will determine whether the complaint should be considered informally or formally.

The Students’ Union’s aim is to resolve as many complaints as possible as quickly as possible via the informal approach. Our informal stage is based on a dispute resolution approach based on dialogue with the affected parties to reach an amicable and satisfactory outcome in which the complainant has had the opportunity to be heard and understood.

If your complaint is dealt with at stage 1, a member of staff from the relevant Students’ Union department (who has had appropriate dispute resolution training) will be assigned to speak with you and work together to resolve your issue.

This process will usually be concluded within 15 working days of the staff member being allocated to the complaint.

If you are not happy with the resolution proposed at stage 1, you have the option to escalate your complaint to stage 2. This must be done in writing to complaints.su@coventry.ac.uk within 10 working days of receiving the stage 1 complaint outcome.

A complaint can either be escalated straight to the formal approach or, if you choose to escalate following the stage 1 outcome. At this stage, an investigator will be assigned to formally investigate your complaint.

This will follow an investigation process which can involve speaking with you or other people to gather information, reviewing and/or gathering relevant evidence and reviewing relevant Students’ Union and/or University policies.

You will usually be offered the opportunity to meet with the investigator as part of their investigation process.

The investigator will reach a judgment on whether to uphold, partially uphold or reject your complaint and any appropriate action(s) and/or sanction(s) as a result.

You will receive a formal written outcome within 20 working days of the investigator being assigned.

You can appeal the stage 2 outcome within 10 working days of receiving the stage 2 outcome by emailing complaints.su@coventry.ac.uk. You can only request a review if:

  • You have fresh evidence that was not available at the time of the original decision being reached.
  • The complaints procedure was not followed properly.

The appeal will be considered by the CEO (or their nominee) and the outcome confirmed within 10 working days of the stage 3 request being received.

The possible outcomes of a stage 3 review are:

  • Uphold the original decision.
  • Determine a different outcome and/or recommendations to the original stage 2 outcome.
  • Assign a fresh investigator to run a fresh stage 2 investigation.

This concludes the Students’ Union’s complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied with the decision of the Students’ Union, you can take your complaint to the University via the University’s Complaints Procedure.

FAQs?

Anyone, including members of the public can submit a complaint to the Students’ Union. However, the complaint must relate to (but not limited to) the behaviour or conduct of members or student groups of the Students’ Union, the delivery of any services by the Students’ Union or any of the facilities operated by the Students’ Union.

We strongly recommend reading the full complaints policy to understand what complaints are and are not accepted by the Students’ Union.

Election complaints cannot be considered by the Students’ Union complaints policy and are dealt with via a different mechanism.

Your Students’ Union Advice Service can support students through the complaints process, however, please be aware that as the Advice Service is part of the Students’ Union, the service is not independent from the Students’ Union. The details of anyone contacting the service are kept entirely confidential from anyone else in the Students’ Union who is not part of the Advice and Wellbeing Department, and an Advice Caseworker will always act in the best interest of their client.

Your complaint is dealt with in confidence and in line with our Privacy Policy. Members of the Students’ Union staff involved in managing or investigating your complaint are reminded of their responsibility to act confidentially.

The only exception to this is where a risk is identified in relation to yours or another person’s safety, at which point, we would follow our safeguarding procedure and potentially disclose details to the University or other relevant external agencies.

Just as Students’ Union staff are reminded of their responsibility to maintain confidentiality, when you submit a complaint, you are also responsible for acting with due regard for the confidentiality of the individual(s) involved. This means you should keep details of the complaint confidential, and any breaches of this will be treated with the utmost seriousness and may result in disciplinary action being taken.

Other parties involved in the complaint process are also reminded of their responsibility in maintaining confidentiality.

If a complaint has been submitted about you, we understand this can be an upsetting experience. If you are a Coventry University Group student, you can access support from the Student Wellbeing Service, which can provide support with your mental health or emotional wellbeing. Anyone can look for sources of external support on the Students’ Union’s support hub.

Your Students’ Union Advice Service can provide advice and guidance on both the Students’ Union complaints and disciplinary process. You can contact the service by completing their enquiry form here.

Please be aware that as the Advice Service is part of the Students’ Union, the service is not independent from the Students’ Union. The details of anyone contacting the service are kept entirely confidential to anyone else in the Students’ Union who are not part of the Advice and Wellbeing Department, and an Advice Caseworker will always act in the best interest of their client.

If a stage 2 investigation has resulted in you being issued with a sanction and you disagree with it, you have the right to appeal the outcome. You must do so within 10 working days of receiving the written outcome of the stage 2 complaint by writing to complaints.su@coventry.ac.uk.

You can only appeal if:

  • You have fresh evidence that was not available at the time of the original decision being reached.
  • The complaints procedure was not followed properly.
  • The severity of the sanction does not match the offence.

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