Please note that this page is regarding complaints to the University. For complaints regarding the Students' Union please email ussu.complaints@surrey.ac.uk

If you feel the University have provided you with a disservice, not acted with due care or have broken a regulation/code of practise then you may be entitled to report through the complaints procedure with the University. 

The complaints procedure covers: 

• Provision or delivery of programmes and/or modules.

• Provision or delivery of academic, administrative or other services delivered by the University​

So you could complain that your accomodation wasnt fit for purpose or that your module was delivered wrong. However, you can not complain about your grades or anything academic - you would need to go through the procedure for academic appeals in this case. 

The University has a three stage complaints procedures. So, you need to work out what stage you are already at and which stage you need to go through first. 

How can the Students' Union help me?

Our Academic advisors are trained in the regulations and can support you through the complaints procedure and how to best raise your complaint with the University. They are able to:

• Look through your statement and complaint and see if they believe you have grounds to complain to the University
  
• Look over your evidence for you to support your complaint
  
• Support you in attending meetings with the University at first stage, and second stage
• Support you in writing your stage one, two or three complaint
  
• Advise you on who best to speak to within the University for your complaint
  

What next?

Establish what stage you are at - the University has a three stage Complaints Procedure. You must have attempted the first stage before you move to the second stage

Stage 1:  Informal complaint to seek early resolution

You should attempt to make contact with the relevant member of staff in the department/service to raise your concerns - e.g. module leader or student services. If you are unable to, or unwilling to make contact with them, then you should speak with their line manager as a first point of contact. 

We suggest you try and arrange a meeting over email and then take notes in the meeting as a summary of the discussion. Hopefully your complaint will be resolved at this stage but;

• If you are unhappy with the response, you can escalate this to the head of school or manager of the service.

• If you are unhappy with the response from their manager or the department, then you can move to stage two of the complaints process
  

Stage 2: Formal complaint to the Office of Student Complaints, Appeals and Regulations

You need to complete the Complaint Form, found on the OSCAR website and prepare a statement explaining your your concerns, what happened and what your complaint is regarding. For the best chance of an upheld complaint, we recomend you do the following:

• Write your statement explaining that you have tried to resvolve your concerns locally (you'll need evidence to demonstrate this), what happened, how it impacted you and what outcome you would like. 

• We suggest you read through relevant codes of conduct, policies etc - you might find that there has been a breach which you can reference in your complaint.
  

• Gather together supporting evidence e.g. relevant documents, emails etc.
  

• Send the form and supporting evidence to OSCAR, who will allocate your complaint to a complaint handler. 
  

Stage 3: Complaint Review Panel

Stage 3 is optional and you would only go to this stage if you were unhappy with the outcome or handling of the complaint at Stage 2​. You can not progress to stage 3 without completing stage 2.

Stage 3 complaints are considered by a panel of three people who will look at the complaint in it's entirely and decide on an outcome together. 

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What do I need to do first?

Read the University's Complaints procedure. These can be found on the web-site of the Office of Student Complaints, Appeals and Regulations (OSCAR) https://www.surrey.ac.uk/office-student-complaints-appeals-and-regulation

If you need further help and guidance, or would like the Student's Union to have a look through your case and statement, we would be happy to. Just get in touch with our advice team!

I need further advice:​

You can make an appointment with one of our Academic Advice team. Appointments are for a maximum of 30 minutes, Monday - Friday 10-4pm.

Please email ussu.advice@surrey.ac.uk with the following information:

Name​, Course, Year of study, Details of your case (including what stage of the complaints process you believe you are at), What you need advice on​