9 complaints and appeals

Bye-Law 9 of Bucks Students’ Union:

COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS

March 2018

COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS PROCEDURES Operating Context 1. Bye-Law 9: Complaints and Appeals is applicable only to members of Bucks Students’ Union. It is designed to be complementary to the University’s Student Complaints Procedure.

2. The Union takes the experience of its members seriously and encourages any member holding a concern to raise it and, where appropriate, submit a complaint under this process, based on the ground for complaint detailed below.

3. Bye-Law 9: Complaints and Appeals should be read in conjunction with other relevant documentation such as the Union’s Constitution, other Bye-Laws, departmental handbooks and policies. These set out rules and expectations under which we expect our members to operate and may therefore provide a useful framework for any complaints.

4. Bye-Law 9: Complaints and Appeals should also be read in conjunction with the Union’s Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures which take precedence over this Bye-Law and which may be invoked during the course of investigating a complaint.

5. The Complaints and Appeals procedure is not for use by Union employees, including students in their capacity as part-time employees. Employees wishing to make a complaint should discuss this with their line manager in the first instance and following that the Union’s Human Resources Manager.

6. Where a complaint is in direct relation to a service provided by the Union and managed by staff, the President or relevant Sabbatical Officer may refer the complaint to the appropriate Senior Manager who will take any necessary action.

7. Students wishing to make a complaint about Union elections should instead follow the process outlined in Bye-Law 4: Elections.

8. Where complaints are anonymous or by third parties they may not be dealt with through our normal Complaints and Appeals Procedures.

9. If a third party is named as part of any complaint, the Union must notify them as to their inclusion.

2

General Information 10.  Confidentiality will be maintained, wherever possible, by the person dealing with the complaint. On occasion this may not be possible due to the nature of the complaint and the individuals involved. The complainant will not be discriminated against or suffer recriminations as a result of making a complaint, although the Union reserves the right to take action as necessary against anyone who makes a complaint which is subsequently found to be malicious or knowingly made with reasonable grounds for personal or collective gain.

11.  Students submitting a complaint to the Union are able to access advice and support from the Students’ Union at the Brunel University, contact details for whom are available from brunelstudents.com/advice.

3

Verbal and Informal Complaints 12. Verbal complaints will be deemed informal complaints.

13. Approaches may be made to any Union officer or staff member. Wherever possible the Union encourages the complainant to raise the matter with the staff or officer with responsibility for the area connected to the complaint.

The person responsible for the area or issue will seek to resolve the complaint without the need to advance it to the formal procedure.

14. Complaints must be received within 10 working days of the incident or event giving rise to the complaint. After this time the Union will not consider the complaint unless there are exceptional circumstances present.

15. Any staff member or officer handling an informal complaint should notify their line manager and the Union’s Human Resources Manager who will maintain a record of all informal complaints.

16. The staff member or officer must also acknowledge the complaint, in writing, within two working days of receipt. This confirmation should include deadlines by which an outcome will be communicated to the complainant, which should not exceed 15 working days.

17. In carrying out their investigation the staff member or officer handling the complaint discuss the matter with a member of the Union’s Senior Management Team who will determine whether the Union’s Code of Conduct has been breached if so whether the Disciplinary Procedures should be invoked.

18. Following the steps taken by the staff member or officer to address the complaint informally the outcome should be put in writing to the complainant and also added to the file being maintained by the Human Resources Manager.

19. If the outcome at the conclusion of the informal stage is not deemed satisfactory by the complainant then they should make a formal complaint as detailed below. Formal complaints must be submitted within 10 working days of date of the written outcome of the Union’s informal complaint.

4

Formal Complaints 20. Formal complaints must be made in writing via the Union’s Complaint Form.

21. The formal complaint should include: 21.1. Complainants’ name and contact address or telephone number 21.2. The nature of the complaint 21.3. Any action taken by the complainant to resolve the situation 21.4. Any action taken by the Union to resolve the situation 21.5. Preferred course of action to resolve the complaint 21.6. Relevant documentation which supports, but is not necessarily limited to, the above.

22. The Complaint Form is accessible in the ‘Your Union’ section of the Students’ Union website: bucksstudentsunion.org/union and should be submitted to sucomplaints@bucks.ac.uk.

23. Receipt of formal complaints must be acknowledged in writing by the Union within two working days of receipt.

24. Investigation and communication surrounding the complaint will be conducted by the Chief Executive Officer, a senior manager appointed by the Chief Executive Officer, or, if the complaint relates to the Chief Executive Officer, the President in conjunction with the Trustee Board.

25. If the complaint is in relation to any staff member of the Union then the matter shall be referred to the Chief Executive Officer who will investigate and may invoke the Staff Disciplinary Procedures of the Union. The Chief Executive Officer may delegate the investigation to the Human Resources Manager or an appropriate senior manager in line with the Staff Disciplinary Procedures.

26. If the complaint relates to the Chief Executive Officer and the President then the complaint will handled by the longest serving external member of the Trustee Board, who will appoint an investigating officer. Contact details for the external trustee can be gained from the Minute Secretary of the Union’s Trustee Board.

27. The Union may consider invoking the members’ disciplinary procedures, if complaints are found to be vexatious or malicious. A vexatious or malicious complaint is defined as a complaint which is trivial or untrue, having been put forward so as to abuse the process of the complaints procedure including, for example, attempts to defame the name or character of another person.

28. The Union will be as transparent as possible in responding to a complaint. Requests for access to certain documents will be considered within the boundaries of the Data Protection Act 1998 or the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

5

Grounds for Complaint 29. Members can make a complaint under our complaints policy if your complaint relates to: 29.1. the conduct of a Union members, officers or staff 29.2. the conduct of a Union trustee 29.3. Union services 29.4. Union activities 29.5. Union clubs, groups or societies 29.6. Union democratic events or processes (such as elections or Union Council) 29.7. information or publications by the Union or displayed on Union premises 29.8. Union student media products 29.9. having exercised your right not to be a member of Union, you feel that you have been unfairly disadvantaged 29.10. quality, adequacy and effectiveness of representation provided by the Students’ Union or its representatives.

30. Where Bucks Students’ Union activities are governed, in part, by other ByeLaws, policies or processes, such as general elections. Complainants should exhaust those routes to resolution prior to submitting a formal complaint.

31. If the subject of your complaint is not detailed in 4.1 you should discuss your concern with the Union’s Chief Executive Officer in the first instance, who will advise you on the most suitable course of action.

6

Investigation of Complaints 32. The Union will seek to resolve the complaint within one calendar month of receipt of the written complaint.

33. The complainant must be notified of any undue delay in resolving the complaint as soon as possible, within two working days after the delay becomes apparent.

34. The complainant will be notified of the result of the complaint and the associated reasoning in writing as soon as possible after the conclusion of the investigation.

35. In the course of their investigation the Investigating Officer will determine whether the Union’s Code of Conduct has been breached if so whether the Disciplinary Procedures should be invoked. Where the Union’s Disciplinary Procedures have been invoked the timeline set out in Bye-Law 8: Members Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures, will be followed and the complainant will be notified of the outcome no later than 11 days after the member under investigation has been informed of the outcome.

36. If the complaint is upheld outcomes may include, but are not limited to: 36.1. a formal apology 36.2. a change to a Union service, activity or process 36.3. financial reimbursement 36.4. disciplinary measures specified in other Union Bye-Laws (for instance relating to the suspension of club or society affiliation).

37. Where outcomes fall outside of these criteria approval will be required by a member of the Union’s Senior Management Team.

7

Appeals 38. Should the outcome of the investigation not be satisfactory to the complainant then they may formally appeal to the Trustee Board 39. Grounds for appeal will be restricted to the following: 39.1. Failure to handle the complaint in-line with the procedures outlined in Bye-Law 9: Complaints and Appeals 39.2. Information available at the time of the complaint was not considered 39.3. That the evidence provided at the time of the complaint should have resulted in a different outcome.

40. No trustee involved in the original complaint will be involved in the appeal 41. The Trustee Board will appoint three trustees to an appeals panel, who may be drawn from the entire pool of trustees.

42. The complainant will be invited, in writing, to present a statement in support of their appeal at least 15 working days before the panel consider the appeal.

43. The appeal panel will determine whether they are able to consider the appeal effectively through a desk-based review or whether a meeting shall be necessary.

44. If the appeal panel opt to call a meeting the complainant, and any other parties, will be notified at least 10 working days in advance so as to prepare for the appeal hearing.

45. The complainant may bring another individual to the meeting to provide support. The complainant cannot be legally represented at this meeting but the additional attendee may speak on behalf of the complaint.

46. Having heard the case from all parties the appeal panel will make a decision on behalf of the Trustee Board.

47. The complainant will be informed of the appeal outcome, in writing, within five working days of the meeting.

48. Should the outcome of the appeal panel not be satisfactory to the complainant they may look to instigate Buckinghamshire New University’s Student Complaints Procedure at the review stage. Although as an independent organisation the Union would not normally expect decisions made by a panel on behalf of its Trustee Board to be over-turned. Details of the University’s process can be obtained from the Student Resolution Officer resolution@bucks.ac.uk.

8

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE Informal Complaints

Formal Complaints

Incident occurs

Complaint made in writing to Students’ Union Chief Executive Officer (CEO) using Formal Complaint Form

Verbal or informal written complaint made to relevant Students’ Union staff with 10 working days of incident

Formal Complaint acknowledged in writing within two working days

Complaint acknowledged in writing within two working days

CEO, or nominee, investigates complaint (unless it relates to them) and takes relevant action if necessary

Complaint investigated and action taken if necessary

Decision taken as to whether to invoke Disciplinary Procedures

Decision taken as to whether to invoke Disciplinary Procedures

Outcome communicated in writing within one calendar month of the receipt of the Formal Complaint Form

Outcome communicated in writing within 15 working days of initial receipt of complaint

Where Disciplinary Procedures have been invoked, follow timeline set out in Bye-Law 8: Members Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures

Where Disciplinary Procedures have been invoked, follow timeline set out in Bye-Law 8: Members Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures

If outcome is acceptable, no further action. If the complainant is not satisfied with result and grounds for appeal are met, move to Appeals process

If complaint resolved, no further action. If not resolved, move to Formal Complaint process

9

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE Appeals Process

If grounds for appeal are met, notification of appeal to be made in writing to Trustee Board

Trustee Board appoint three Trustees not previously involved to consider the case.

Complainant will be given 15 working days before the Appeals Panel meet to prepare a written statement

The Panel will decide if the appeal will be considered in a desk-based exercise, or whether a meeting will be called. If a meeting is called the complainant will be given 10 working days notice of the date of the meeting

Complainant is permitted to bring a supporter who may speak on behalf of the complainant but cannot provide legal representation

Outcome to be communicated in writing to the complainant within five working days of the Appeal meeting

If outcome is acceptable no further action. If the complainant is not satisfied with the result they may consider using the University Student Complaints process, entering at the review stage

10

Bucks Students’ Union Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe, Bucks HP11 2JZ Tel: 01494 601 600 Email: union@bucks.ac.uk Website: bucksstudentsunion.org Bucks Students’ Union is a registered charity – no. 1144820 VAT Reg. No. 669 0980 87