Issues of complaint raised in additional consideration requests
122Sometimes, a student’s request for additional consideration may include information that should be considered as a complaint, for instance if a student’s request is based on reports of bullying or harassment by other students or staff. In such cases, it is good practice for the provider to ask the student if they want to make a formal complaint and to signpost them to the procedure for doing so.
123In some cases, it may be possible for the provider to reach a decision on the student’s additional consideration request without having to investigate the issues of complaint. For instance, if the student has provided evidence to show that their circumstances have caused them significant distress, it may not be necessary to establish that the distress was caused by the actions of other students or staff in order to decide whether to accept the student’s request for additional consideration. In other cases, the provider may need to put the student’s request for additional consideration on hold whilst it investigates the complaint. This should be explained clearly to the student. If the student does not want to make a complaint, the implications of this for their request for additional consideration should be made clear.