ANNUAL REPORT 2023 - Putting things right

Our casework can help to put things right for students in many different ways.

Where possible and appropriate, we will try to settle the complaint as this can often be a positive way forward for everyone. Where we decide that a complaint is Justified or Partly Justified we usually make Recommendations. Our Recommendations aim to put things right for the student or students involved (“student-centred Recommendations”) and, where appropriate, to improve procedures or processes for the benefit of other students as well (“good practice Recommendations”). In 2023 we made Recommendations in over 300 cases. In complaints we have not upheld, we may still make suggestions to help providers to improve their practices.

Some students who come to us don’t get the outcome they had hoped for. There is still value for some of these students in knowing that an independent organisation has looked at their concerns. It can be reassuring and can sometimes help to bring closure to what may have been long-running and emotional involvement with their complaint.

Early resolution and settlement

Our case-handlers look for opportunities to resolve complaints at an early stage where possible.

Sometimes talking through a complaint with a student, either before they submit their complaint to us or in the early part of our process, can give the student a new perspective on their complaint and they may decide not to pursue it further. For example, we may be able to explain that the steps a provider has already taken to resolve their complaint appear to be reasonable, or that the remedy the student is seeking is unlikely to be possible.

Where appropriate to the case, we will try to settle the complaint by finding an outcome the student and provider can agree on. Settlements can be a quicker and less stressful way to resolve complaints. They can be particularly beneficial for students who are continuing with their studies because it can help to restore a relationship of trust with their provider. Settlements can also offer greater flexibility in the remedy for the complaint.

Examples of settlement agreements that students and providers agreed to in 2023 included:

• To allow a student back onto a course and give them an opportunity to resubmit their dissertation
• To consider an academic appeal based on mitigating personal circumstances that had been rejected as out of time, in recognition that the student had good reason for not raising their circumstances sooner because at the time they did not have the agreement they needed from a third party to share relevant information
• To take a case back for consideration, and to apologise to the student for delays and take into account the time that had passed in their new consideration of the appeal
• To accept a complaint previously ruled out of time, to take into account the cumulative nature of the impact on the student of separate periods of industrial action.

Student-centred Recommendations

When we uphold or partly uphold a complaint, where possible we recommend a practical remedy or remedies to put the student back in the position they would have been in if things had not gone wrong. Examples of practical remedies we recommended in 2023 included:

• To reconsider the penalty the provider had imposed on a student under its non-academic misconduct procedure, taking into account whether and how the student’s disability was a mitigating factor in their behaviour, and to also consider whether the impact of the standard penalty could be disproportionate because of the student’s individual support needs
• To apologise to a student for the way in which staff had been dismissive in their description of the student’s case in internal correspondence
• To provide a student with a letter explaining why they had been unable to complete the course of study within the usual timeframe as a result of the provider’s actions, that could be used in support of future requests for access to student finance
• To take steps to ensure that the reasonable adjustments identified in the student’s needs assessment will be in place for all future assessments, and to pay the student compensation because these arrangements had not previously been made
• To offer a student assurance in writing that they would receive appropriate acknowledgement in future publications making use of their laboratory work.

Where a practical remedy is not possible, or is not enough, we may recommend financial compensation. Examples of financial compensation we recommended included:

• To reimburse a student for an additional maintenance loan that they had to take out and compensate them for significant distress and inconvenience because of serious and repeated administrative errors by the provider that led to a two-year delay in the student graduating
• To compensate a student for distress and inconvenience caused by procedural issues in how a student disciplinary procedure was handled
• To refund a student’s costs for a year abroad and offer a payment in recognition of the lack of teaching relating to the provision of language learning, together with an additional sum in recognition of the severe distress and inconvenience caused by issues with the provider’s handling of the case
• To pay compensation to a group of students for the distress and inconvenience caused by delays in the provider’s consideration of their complaint.

In 2023, 86% of our student-centred Recommendations were complied with on time. In almost all the cases where this was not done in a timely way, there was only a short delay in implementing the Recommendations. If a provider is late in complying, or does not comply, we take steps to address this.

The Recommendations we made in 2023 included financial compensation totalling £580,311. Financial compensation can alternatively be part of a settlement of a case. In 2023 compensation through settlements totalled £638,564, exceeding compensation through Recommendations for the second consecutive year. The overall total compensation in 2023 was £1,218,875, somewhat higher than the total (excluding the compensation to students in the large group complaint we reviewed) in 2022 of £1,050,114. The highest single amount of financial compensation was £42,500. 58 students received amounts of £5,000 or more, of whom 24 received £10,000 or more.

Good practice Recommendations

Our good practice Recommendations are usually for providers to review and improve internal procedures and practices, taking into account the guidance in the relevant sections of our Good Practice Framework. Examples of good practice Recommendations we made in 2023 included:

• To revisit procedures relating to students who report sexual assault to ensure that staff are aware of and able to complete the necessary risk records effectively, and to review how the provider shares information with students about these processes
• To review student disciplinary procedures to ensure that a written record is kept of any meeting or hearing and that the reasons for any decisions taken are sufficiently detailed that students can easily understand the reasons for the decision and any penalty applied
• To review a policy on non-academic misconduct and provide further guidance and/or training for staff, particularly about the approach to penalties
• To review processes to consider how any decisions made outside of an established procedure or policy are still considered with procedural fairness in mind.

In 2023, 63% of our good practice Recommendations were implemented on time, a slight increase on the year before. We follow up cases where our Recommendations are not implemented on time. Where there are delays, these are usually due to practical issues rather than any reluctance to comply. For example, the provider may need to go through formal approval processes to make changes to policies or procedures. In these circumstances we sometimes ask the provider to put in place interim measures to address the issues of concern. Virtually all of our good practice Recommendations from 2023 have now been complied with.