We are the free, independent complaints Scheme for higher education students in England and Wales. Every day, we manage a wide-range of complaints from students. In this guide, we will explain a key piece of our work which is not always the first thing you might think we do. Sometimes a complaint can be resolved without us completing a full review. We call this settlement.
A settlement is an outcome agreed between you and your university, college or other higher education provider. We refer to this organisation as your provider.
Settlement may be a quicker and more flexible way to resolve your complaint. It can also allow you and your provider to agree a practical solution that addresses the main concerns in your complaint.
In this summary, we explain more about what settlement is, how it could be useful for you, and what some of the key terms be.
The key points:
- Settlement is optional. You and your provider must both agree.
- Settlement can happen at any stage of our process.
- Your provider may make an offer without accepting that it did anything wrong.
- We may explain our initial view of your complaint, but this is not a formal decision.
- If you accept an offer in full and final settlement, we will normally close your complaint without issuing a formal Complaint Outcome.
- If you reject an offer, we will usually continue our review. However, we may decide that the offer already provides a reasonable way to resolve your complaint.
In short: settlement means that you and your provider agree how to resolve your complaint. We then close your OIA complaint without completing a formal review.
A settlement may involve your provider putting something right. Your provider may also make a practical offer to bring the complaint to an end without accepting that something went wrong.
No. We consider each complaint individually.
Settlement may be suitable where:
- Your provider has already upheld part of your complaint and its proposed remedy is close to the outcome you want.
- The information available to us suggests there may have been a clear error.
- There is a practical way to resolve the complaint without a full review.
- An agreed outcome could help you return to your studies or avoid further delay
We will consider whether there is a realistic prospect of agreement and whether pausing our review would cause unnecessary delay.
Sometimes a complaint raises wider concerns that could affect other students. In those cases, it may be more appropriate for us to complete our review and make Recommendations to the provider.
If we think settlement may be possible, we will usually speak to your provider first. This allows us to find out whether it is willing to make an offer before asking you to consider one.
If your provider makes an offer, your case-handler will:
- Explain what the provider is offering.
- Clarify any terms, conditions or deadlines.
- Explain any initial view we have reached about your complaint and
give you an opportunity to ask questions. - Ask whether you want to accept or reject the offer
We remain independent throughout these discussions. We do not accept or reject an offer for you.
Any initial view we give is based on the information available at that time. It is not a formal decision and may change if we receive further relevant information.
A settlement can include a practical outcome, a financial payment or both. For example, a provider might offer to:
- Hear an appeal, disciplinary case or fitness to practise case again
- Give you another assessment attempt.
- Remove an academic misconduct penalty.
- Provide access to facilities or alternative learning opportunities,
refund fees or other costs. - Make a payment for distress or inconvenience.
These are only examples. We welcome practical solutions that address the main concerns in a complaint.
Not at all. Settlement is voluntary. You can accept or reject an offer.
Before deciding, make sure you understand:
- Exactly what the provider will do.
- When it will do it.
- Anything you need to do.
- Any deadline or condition attached to the offer.
- Whether the offer is in full and final settlement.
- What will happen to your OIA complaint if you accept.
If anything is unclear, ask your case-handler before making your decision.
An offer made in full and final settlement is intended to bring the complaint, or the issues covered by the offer, to an end.
If you accept such an offer through our process, we will normally close your complaint without completing a full review. You would not normally be able to ask us to consider the settled issues again.
The same may apply if you accepted an offer in full and final settlement during your provider’s own complaints or appeals process. We would not normally consider the same issues through the OIA Scheme.
A full and final settlement may also affect your ability to take legal action. Only a court can decide the legal effect of an agreement. You should make sure you understand the offer before accepting it and consider getting independent advice if you are unsure about its legal effect.
We would normally reconsider settled issues only in exceptional circumstances. These might include evidence that:
- Your provider misled you about the effect of accepting the offer.
- You were placed under unreasonable pressure to accept it.
- Your provider did not carry out the agreed settlement.
Yes. Before agreeing to a settlement, you can tell your case-handler what you would like the provider to change and why.
We will always pass your suggestions on to the provider, even if we don’t think the request is realistic or proportionate. This is because we are an independent party to any settlement conversations, and our role during settlement conversations is to facilitate discussion between you and the provider. We may help with further discussions, for example by giving our own view, where your request appears reasonable or is not significantly different from the original offer.
We will usually ask you to explain your reasons and tell us about any concerns you have with the offer.
We will normally ask the provider to keep the offer open while we complete our review. We can then consider the offer as part of our decision.
If we identify something that went wrong, we will consider whether the offer already provides a reasonable remedy. If it does, we may decide that no further remedy is needed. The complaint may be recorded as Not Justified based on a Reasonable Offer.
In some cases, it may be clear without a full review that the provider has made a reasonable offer and that there is no other issue we need to consider. We may then decide not to continue the review.
If we close your complaint because a reasonable offer was made, we will normally ask the provider to make the offer again and keep it open for a reasonable period, usually two months. If the provider does not do this, you can ask us to reconsider your complaint.
A decision based on a Reasonable Offer does not mean that your concerns were unimportant. It means that we consider the provider’s offer to be a reasonable way of resolving them.
We will usually ask the provider to keep an offer open while we complete our review.
However, some practical remedies need to be accepted by a particular date. For example, an offer involving a return to study or another assessment attempt may need to fit within an academic timetable. There might be other good reasons why a provider has set a time-sensitive deadline to accepting an offer.
If the provider does not keep the offer open, we can still consider whether it was reasonable. If we identify something that needs to be put right, we may Recommend that the provider makes the offer again.
If the offer was made only as a practical way to end the complaint, and our review does not identify anything that needs to be put right, the provider may not be required to repeat it.
A provider does not have to make a settlement offer. If it decides not to do so, we will continue our review.
Tell your case-handler as soon as possible.
You can ask us to reconsider your complaint. We may reopen it and complete a review. We will also ask the provider to explain why it has not carried out the agreed settlement.
Sometimes, you might still be unhappy with the outcome after the provider has carried out the agreed settlement. For example, the provider might agree to reconsider your appeal again because there were problems with the original process and you aren’t happy with how that appeal has then been reconsidered. If you’re still unhappy with the new decision, you can make a new complaint to the OIA about that fresh decision. This is a new complaint because the provider has made a new decision. It would not be a request for us to look at your original complaint again.
A provider may set terms for an offer, and it is your choice whether to accept them.
However, we do not normally think that a complicated legal agreement or confidentiality clause is necessary to settle an OIA complaint. An email or letter that clearly explains the offer and confirms that it is made in full and final settlement will usually be enough.
We may raise concerns where an agreement:
- Tries to settle every complaint you might ever have against the provider.
- Stops you from discussing your experience more generally.
- Includes a gagging clause or another unnecessarily restrictive term.
If we have concerns, we may ask the provider to remove or change the terms. We will also consider whether any unfair terms made it reasonable for you to reject the offer.
“Without prejudice” is a legal term that can have different meanings depending on the circumstances.
We do not normally think that providers need to use this term when making an offer through our process. If an offer uses it, we may ask the provider to explain what it means and what restrictions it believes apply.
The term will not normally prevent us from considering the offer or deciding whether it was reasonable. Any question about whether the offer can be used in legal proceedings is for the courts.
You cannot normally pursue legal proceedings and an OIA complaint about the same issues at the same time.
Tell your case-handler as soon as possible if:
- You have started legal proceedings.
- You are considering legal proceedings.
- You are considering an offer to settle a related legal case.
We may need to place your OIA complaint on hold or close it. You may also need to pause or withdraw from one process while the other continues.
If a legal settlement resolves the same issues as your OIA complaint, we would not normally be able to consider those issues through our Scheme.