Student Services

Advice Service can talk to you about this in confidence; we can discuss all the options with you before you make a complaint. If you decide that a complaint is the course of action you want to take, we can help you prepare your complaint and help clarify the rules and regulations associated with the complaints process.

The University provides a procedure for you to raise a complaint about its services. A complaint might be about an academic programme, administration or support services.

You cannot use the complaints procedure to appeal against an Examination Board decision (see Review and Appeal procedure for how to do that).

Who can complain?

Current students or someone who graduated from the University or withdrew from a programme less than three months ago.

How to complain

To make a formal complaint you must contact a Student Complaints Officer in Secretariat who will send you a SCP1 form to complete. The form will guide you on how to set out the details of your case. You can find contact details for a Student Complaints Officer and more information about the form on the Secretariat website.

If you are thinking about making a complaint, come and talk to the Advice Service in confidence for impartial and independent advice. If you do decide to make a complaint, we can help you to fill in the SCP1 form.

To support your complaint you may need evidence. You need to include all the evidence with your complaint as you won’t usually be able to introduce new issues at a later stage.

Once your complaint has been received your Head of School (or nominated senior member of staff) will carry out an investigation into your case. If your complaint concerns the Head of School, then the University will arrange for another Head of School to investigate your case.

When they have completed their investigation you will receive a report of their findings. If your complaint is upheld in whole or in part then they will set out how the issue will be resolved.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint you have 10 working days to request a Review.

You do this by filling out a Complaint Review form available from Secretariat, explaining the reasons that you are not satisfied with the outcome (you may need further evidence at this stage). You submit the form to the Student Complaints Officer handling your case.

There are three further steps to the complaints procedure after the Head of School investigation: the Review stage, the Standing Complaints Panel and the Hearing.

Further details of the latter stages of a complaint are set out in part E of the University General Regulations.

If, having exhausted the University’s internal procedures you are still unhappy, you can take your complaint to the Office for the Independent Adjudicator. The Advice Service can support you throughout these stages.

If you think you might need to make a complaint to the University, come and talk to the Specialist Advice Service in confidence. We are impartial and we are here to advise in your best interests. We have a drop in service between 12pm and 2pm Monday to Friday in the Student Support Centre or alternatively you can email: advice@lincoln.ac.uk.