Guidance notes for complaint investigators (PDF ... - University of York

Guidance Notes for Investigators of Formal ComplaintThese notes are prepared as general guidance to support members of University of York staff whohave been asked to investigate formal complaints from students.Thank you for agreeing to investigate a Formal Complaint.Please familiarise yourself with the principles and provisions of the Complaints Procedure for Dealingwith Complaints from Students and Student Applicants(http://www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/support-and-admin/academic-registry/complaints/ ).These must be fully observed throughout any investigation to avoid any further complaint arisingthat proper procedures were not followed.Complainants are asked to submit their complaint on a Formal Complaint Form. This has beendesigned to help you collect the material you need to begin your investigation. It has also beendesigned to help the student say what they need to say at the start of the procedure so that youhave a reasonably full picture of their concern and its history.The form encourages complainants to itemise the details of the complaint so that you can addressseparate issues individually and can refer your findings and recommendations to each.As the role suggests, your job is to investigate the allegations that the student has made and tomake a recommendation to the Registrar and Secretary on the basis of what you find.To do this you should consider the student’s allegations and the evidence they provide to supportthese. You may triangulate what they have told you by seeking evidence from those about whomthe complaint is made. You may well have further questions to ask of the complainant and/or mayrequest them to produce additional relevant evidence.If you want the complainant or a member of the University to attend a meeting about thecomplaint you should give them the option of being accompanied by a member of the University(staff or student), a trade union representative (if they are a staff member) or an officer of theYUSU or GSA (if they are a student).When you have completed your investigation you should prepare a document which addresses thepoints raised in the complaint and consider the redress that they seek. You should also makerecommendations on the basis for your findings. Usually the investigator concludes that thecomplaint is justified, not justified, or partially justified. You should reach your conclusions based onthe balance of probabilities.The Academic Registrar’s office keeps a record of the progress of Formal Complaints. It is importantthat this record is kept up to date so that complaint investigations are not allowed to drag onunjustifiably. The Academic Registrar’s Office also keeps a log of the outcomes of Formal Complaints.It is helpful to keep in regular contact with the Academic Registrar’s Office as the investigationprogresses.You should send your completed report to the Registrar and Secretary, copied to the AcademicRegistrar. If the complainant remains dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaint they can

equest that the Registrar and Secretary refers the matter to be reviewed by a senior memberofstaff.If you are doing that review – as opposed to the first investigation assisting the Registrar andSecretary – your focus should be on the process of the first investigation and on any furthercomments or information given by the complainant in their request for this review.You should submit your report of this review to the Registrar and Secretary, who will respond to thestudent. You should also copy your report to the Academic Registrar’s Office to update the log.If, following this review, the complainant remains dissatisfied, they can take their complaint to theOffice of the Independent Adjudicator at this stage. The letter informing the complainant of theoutcome of their review gives them the necessary documentation to take this forward with the OIA,(unless they are an applicant in which case this option is not usually open to them).If the OIA decides to investigate the complaint, it is possible that you will be required to elaborate onthe procedure you adopted or on your findings. However, most correspondence with the OIA inrelation to complaints is handled by the University’s in-house Legal Counsellor.At any stage of an investigation or a review, you may seek advice from the Registrar and Secretary,the Academic Registrar or the Legal Counsellor. They, in turn, may seek advice from specialistofficers, such as the Senior Equalities and Diversity Advisor, the Director of Health and Safety or theData Protection Officer. In exceptional cases, we may also seek external legal advice.Please bear in mind that any written documentation (including electronic documents) relating to acomplaint or the investigation/review of a complaint, may be subject to a data access request. Suchrequests should be passed to the University’s Data Protection Officer. Any queries regardingdocument retention should be referred to the Data Protection Officer.November 2013