Complaints policy

If you have a complaint about our organisation we want to hear about it and we will do our best to put it right.

Our Customer Complaints Procedure has the following goals:

• To deal with complaints fairly, efficiently and effectively
• To ensure that all complaints are handled in a consistent manner throughout
• To increase customer satisfaction
• To use complaints constructively in the planning and improvement of all services

What is a complaint?

Complaints may be informal or formal. You may be unhappy with something the College has or has not done, or about something the College has or has not provided. You may wish to raise this informally or formally with the College. In either case, we will aim to find a satisfactory resolution.

How to complain

The College’s aim is to sort out any complaint as soon as possible.

Many complaints can be resolved informally. In the first instance contact our Admissions Officer, Angie Annies by:

• Telephone: 01954 234940 or
• Email: angie@marketingcollege.com or
• Via our live chat on the CMC website: marketingcollege.com.

If Angie is unavailable another member of staff will try to sort the matter out.

If you make contact in person or by phone, make a note of the name of the person you speak to. If a solution is offered at this point, make a note of this as well.

If you are not satisfied or do not wish an informal solution, you may pursue a formal complaint, by contacting our Operations Director, Shane Minett by:

• Telephone: 01954 234943 or
• Email: shane@marketingcollege.com

When you contact us, please give us your full name, contact details, and include a daytime telephone number along with:

• A full description of your complaint (including the subject matter and dates and times if known);
• Any names of the people you have dealt with so far; and
• Copies of any papers or communications to do with the complaint.

What happens next?

You will receive acknowledgement of your complaint within 1 working day. You may be contacted to make sure that we have understood your complaint properly.
We try to resolve all complaints to mutual satisfaction within 10 working days. The CEO is informed about all formal complaints.

Can you take your complaint elsewhere?

In the unlikely event that you are still unhappy, you have the right to contact the relevant awarding bodies: the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations; for apprenticeships the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA); or for Functional skills (Maths and English) HABC. If a complaint is taken to these bodies, we will nominate a Customer Support Officer to ensure that the complainant is has clear communication about how the complaint is progressing.

Chartered Institute of Marketing

Complaints can be sent by:

• Email: comments@cim.co.uk
• Post: Quality and Complaints Executive, CIM, Moor Hall, Cookham, Berkshire, SL6 9QH, UK
• Telephone: +44 (0)1628 427120

Each complaint will be acknowledged within five working days of receipt, and when further investigation is required, responded to within 20 working days by the Quality and Complaints Executive. If individuals are not satisfied with the response, they may seek further clarification from the Quality and Complaints Executive who will then notify the Head of the specific department for further action/advice if necessary.

Chartered Institute of Public Relations

Complaints must be in writing and made within two calendar weeks of the occasion of the subject of complaint and can be sent to the CIPR AB Manager:

• Email: Bernadette Eveleigh: Bernadette@cipr.co.uk
• Post: Chartered Institute of Public Relations, 52-53, Russell Square, London, WC1B 4HP

Each complaint will be acknowledged within one calendar week of receipt, and when further investigation is required, responded to within 6 calendar weeks by the CIPR AB Manager. The CIPR AB manager will, if necessary, refer the complaint to the Board of Examiners. Their decision on the issue is final.

Apprenticeships

Complaints must be made within 3 months of getting a decision from your organisation and can be sent to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA Apprenticeship Service Support):

• Email: the ESFA complaints team: helpdesk@manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk.
• Call: 08000 150 600
• Text: 07588 690 018
• Webchat: https://help.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/hc/en-gb. You can use the livechat, leave a message or request a callback.

ESFA Apprenticeship Service Support is open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday. During these hours, emails and messages are responded to in 4 hours.

Functional Skills (Maths and English)

The Awarding Organisation is Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance (HABC) and their appeals policy can be located on their website: www.highfieldabc.com. Alternatively please speak to the HABC team on 0845 2260350.

Should you still remain unhappy with the outcome you may then raise your complaint to the relevant qualification regulator (for example, OFQUAL, SQA Accreditations or Qualifications Wales) dependent upon the qualification. Either a representative of CMC, the CIM, CIPR or HABC will be able to offer you guidance on the appropriate qualification regulator in each instance and provide contact details. For apprenticeships, you should contact the ESFA complaints adjudicator at the same address as above.

Confidentiality

A confidential record of action taken under this policy, including where a complaint has been referred externally, will be retained. All information will be held and processed in accordance with UKGDPR.

If you have any queries about the contents of this policy, please contact the Operations Director directly on 01954 234943 or email shane@marketingcollege.com.

Version control: this policy was last fully reviewed Oct 2020, and the next review date is Oct 2021

• Amended June 2021 - to show 'What is a complaint?' section
• updated Jan 2021 from GDPR to UKGDPR