Case Summaries

The provider investigated the complaint. It concluded that staff had been willing to support the student but there had been a lack of information about some of the student’s requirements and that this had contributed to the adjustments not being made. It partly upheld the complaint, apologised and offered the student £100 compensation. It also said it would take steps to put the reasonable adjustments in place going forward. The student was dissatisfied and complained to us.

We upheld some parts of the student’s complaint (we decided it was Partly Justified). We decided that the provider’s conclusion, that staff had been willing to make adjustments but that there had been a lack of information about what was required, was not supported by the evidence. It was clear that some academic staff had refused to make adjustments that had already been agreed in the student’s support plan. The provider was wrong to conclude that the student’s requests had changed.

We were also critical of the provider because it had not addressed the student’s claim that they had been bullied.

We were satisfied that the provider had acted reasonably in providing the student with support to arrange a placement.

We recommended that the provider should apologise for the failings we had identified and pay the student £5,000 in compensation, recognising the significant impact that the lack of adjustments had received. We also recommended that it apologise and offer to begin a new investigation into the student’s complaint about bullying.