Company Appeals Policy and Procedure

Policy Statement

It is our responsibility, to make sure that all learners are aware of the appeals process and that all learners have access to a responsive appeals process.

Responsibility and Implementation

The Company has a nominated Lead Assessor, who is responsible for managing the Appeals Policy and the Company will inform all learners of whom this is.

Assessment of examination answers is a process with assessors giving constructive feedback.
If the learner disagrees with an outcome, the learner will be expected to explain the basis of the disagreement to the assessor at the time of the feedback. The assessor must be able to highlight clearly to the learner why the criterion has not been met. This type of ‘negotiation’ does not constitute a formal appeal.
If, after such a feedback session, the disagreement has not been resolved, both the assessor and learner should request advice promptly from the Centre’s Lead Assessor who will try to resolve the issue. If this is not possible, the Appeals Procedure shown below should be invoked.
The consideration of appeals that are made will help the internal quality process and the Centre’s Lead Assessor to monitor the assessment process and improve it, where appropriate.
Records of all formal appeals will be recorded in the Appeals Log which will be available to any representative of the Endorsing, Regulatory or Awarding Organisation.

Formal Appeals Procedure

If, after the informal discussion with Lead Assessor, the learner wishes to make a formal appeal, the learner must request this in writing to the Lead Assessor. This must be done within 10 working days of receiving the original examination feedback Lead Assessor will record this in the Appeals Log.

Formal appeals in writing must be sent to the following address:

Imagine Corporation Ltd
3 Richfield Place
Richfield Avenue
Reading, Berkshire,
RG1 8EQ
United Kingdom

Or emailed directly to:
mark@crowdsafety.org

Learners can appeal against the following;

The examination decision – the learner can appeal if they feel the assessor’s judgment was unfair.

The Lead Assessor on receipt of the formal appeal from the learner will:

Try to seek a solution negotiated between the relevant assessor and learner
If it is not possible to reach an agreement then a date will be set for an Appeals Panel to meet

The Appeals Panel will consist of a minimum of two qualified assessors not involved in the original decision. It will meet within 15 working days of the receipt of the appeal by the Lead Assessor.

The Appeals Panel will ensure that full original details in writing are obtained from both the assessor originally involved and the learner.

The outcome of the appeal may be as follows;

Confirmation of the original decision
A re-assessment by an independent assessor
A judgment that adequate evidence meeting the assessment criteria has been shown;
An opportunity to re-sit for assessment within a revised agreed timescale.

The written decision of the Appeals Panel will be issued to the learner within five working days of meeting. This decision will be recorded in the Appeals Log.

The Appeals Log will be available to any representative of the Regulatory or Awarding Organisation.

Review of the Appeals Policy and Procedure

Once a year the Company Senior Management Team will review the Appeals Policy and Procedure to include:

Number of appeals of each type
Time taken to process appeals
List of outstanding appeals
Outcomes to appeals
Results of appeals
Analysis of appeals and outcomes by age, gender and ethnicity of appellant

If changes are required the Complaints Policy will be rewritten and all staff and learners will be informed. A record of all complaints for 3 years will be available to the relevant authorities for audit purposes.

Last updated - 12^th August 2024