We want to make it as easy as possible for you to complain to us. When you make a complaint, you just need to tell us what you think has gone wrong, how it affected you and what you think your provider should do to put it right. We will collect information and ask questions if we need to, to make sure we have understood your complaint and have the information we need to make a decision on it.
We try to explain clearly on our website how to make a complaint and how we deal with complaints. We hope you will find this helpful. If you have any questions you can contact us at enquiries@oiahe.org.uk or on 0118 959 9813, or speak to your case-handler if your case has already been allocated to one. If you are a disabled student and think we can help you by making some adjustments, please tell us. You can also request a video call with your case-handler if you think that would help progress your complaint.
Sources of advice
Our Scheme is independent and impartial, so we can't give you advice about your complaint or make a complaint for you. If you need advice, your student representative body (students' union, association or guild) is often a good source of help. Citizens Advice may also be able to help you.
Asking someone to complain on your behalf
Usually, you will be the best person to make a complaint because you understand your situation better than anyone else. But you can ask someone else to represent you, for example a students’ union representative. Our processes are informal, so it is not usually necessary to use a lawyer.
You will need to give us your permission to communicate with your representative. You also need to make sure that your representative:
- understands your complaint
- knows what outcome you want
- will act in your best interests
- will keep you fully informed throughout the process.
If you appoint a representative, we will normally only communicate with that person (rather than with you as well).
Information for representativesAccessibility adjustments
We want our service to be accessible to all who need to use it. If you are a disabled student we may need to change the way we do things so that you can use our service. If you think we can help you by making some adjustments, please tell us. We can consider any request and have offered the following adjustments:
- Provided information in different formats, fonts, colours and sizes;
- Allowed extra time for comments or responses;
- Taken complaints and comments over the telephone;
- Met with students in person;
- Prioritised or delayed our reviews to ensure that a student was able to engage fully with our review process;
- Contacted the student only on specific days/times;
- Changed the length and style of correspondence;
- Provided recordings of our letters.
The adjustments that we can offer need to be personalised and we hope you will tell us what you would find most helpful.
Our staff members are trained to deal with sensitive information. It is useful for us to have a good understanding of the difficulties you are facing, so that we can help. If you don't want to tell your case-handler about your disability, you can send your request to the Casework Support Team Manager, Tim Cadd (tim.cadd@oiahe.org.uk).
We must use our resources carefully to ensure our service is available to all students who need it. In some cases, we ask for evidence which explains why the adjustment requested is appropriate. This will help us decide whether it is reasonable. We will talk to you about the sort of evidence that will help us reach a decision.
In most cases we will decide what adjustments to make at the beginning of our review and we will usually continue to make them throughout our review process. If you disagree with our assessment please let us know.
If you are not finding the adjustments helpful, please let us know. We can change the adjustments as we go through our processes, if it becomes clear that they are not appropriate.
To discuss any adjustments you might need please contact our Casework Support Team on 0118 959 9813 or email enquiries@oiahe.org.uk.
British Sign Language (BSL) SignVideo Service
If you use BSL, we have a SignVideo service that you may find helpful. This lets you communicate with us through an online, live BSL video interpreting service.
Find out more about the SignVideo Service.
Other sources of support
We know that students who are making a complaint to us are sometimes experiencing difficult circumstances. We have provided a list of some sources of support.