Complaints Policy

Complaint, Concerns and Compliments Procedure

ASL are committed to providing good quality services.  If you feel our services exceed your expectations, we would welcome your feedback.  We also recognise, however, that we sometimes get things wrong or make mistakes.  To deal with this we have a Compliments, Concern and Complaints Procedure which is available on our website or by request. 

What is a Complaint?

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about any aspect of our service that didn’t deliver what we promised or what you expected from us.

Who can raise a concern or complaint?

• Students / Apprentices who are enrolled on a course /apprenticeship at Access Skills
• Employers who have employees enrolled on a course/apprenticeship at Access Skills

When should you raise a concern or complaint?

We respectively request that you raise the concern or complaint promptly and within 8 weeks of the issue being raised.  We do not normally accept complaints after 3 months following completion of a course or apprenticeship.

If a complaint is about a member of staff, they will be notified and given the opportunity to respond. In all other respects ASL will maintain confidentiality regarding complaints and request that students, apprentices and employers do the same.

Should your complaint concern an appeal about a decision that has been made about the assessment of you work, then you will find more information on how to appeal an assessment decision in the ASL Learner Handbook.

Compliments

Compliments will be acknowledged and recorded centrally and also on the personnel file of any member of staff individually complimented.  This will be reviewed as part of their appraisal.

How to complain or express a concern

Step 1: Contacting us

The first step is to talk to a member of the Customer Service Team on 0121 510 2169.

We will try to resolve the problem on the spot if we can.  If we cannot do this, for example; because information we need is not to hand, then we will take a record of your concern/complaint and arrange the best way and time to get back to you. This will normally take five working days to be acknowledged and will be resolved within 21 days.

Step 2: Taking your complaint further

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of our initial response, the next step is to put a formal complaint in writing to the Customer Service Team, setting out the details, explaining what you think went wrong and what you feel would put things right. The Customer Service team address is:

Access Skills Ltd 

Customer Service Team

Quadrant Court

49 Calthorpe Road

Edgebaston

Birmingham

B15 1TH

Alternatively, you can request a Compliments, Comments, Concerns & Complaints form from learnersupport@accessskills.co.uk to complete and return to the Customer Service team.  Once the Customer Service Team receives a written complaint, it will be acknowledged in writing within five working days of receipt.  They will arrange for a full investigation to take place. Investigations should normally be conducted within three weeks unless the matter is more complicated, such as where other organisations need to be contacted.  Where this is the case, we will still let you know what action is being taken and tell you when we expect to provide you with a full response.

Step 3: The next stage

If your complaint is regarding any other matter or if you feel the complaint/concern has not been resolved, you may document your issues and address your correspondence to Access Skills Managing Director at the same address above.

Escalating a concern or complaint to the National Apprenticeship Service.

Apprentices and Employers can contact the National Apprenticeship Service helpline regarding

apprenticeship concerns, complaints and enquiries:

National Apprenticeship Helpline

Email:  helpdesk@manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk

Tel: 0800 015 0600