Complaints Procedure

Educated Appointments Ltd aims to provide a professional, reliable and fair recruitment service. We recognise that there may be occasions where a candidate, client, employer, supplier or other contact is unhappy with the service received.

This procedure explains how complaints can be raised, how we will review them, and how we aim to resolve concerns fairly and promptly.

A complaint may be made by:

• A candidate or prospective candidate.
• A client, employer or training provider.
• A supplier or business contact.
• A person acting on behalf of someone directly affected, where appropriate authority has been provided.
• Any individual who has interacted with Educated Appointments Ltd and has a genuine concern about our service or conduct.

Complaints may relate to matters such as:

• The standard of service provided by Educated Appointments Ltd.
• Communication, response times or professionalism.
• Candidate handling, vacancy handling or recruitment process concerns.
• Accuracy of information shared during a recruitment process.
• Data protection, privacy or document handling concerns.
• Equal opportunities, fairness or discrimination concerns.
• Safeguarding or safer recruitment concerns linked to our recruitment activity.
• Fees, invoices, terms of business or commercial concerns.
• Any other issue where someone believes we have not met expected standards.

Where possible, we encourage concerns to be raised informally at first. Many issues can be resolved quickly by speaking with the person you have been dealing with or by contacting Educated Appointments Ltd directly.

If the matter cannot be resolved informally, or if the concern is serious, you can make a formal complaint using the process below.

Formal complaints should be sent by email to:

info@educatedappointments.co.uk

Please include as much relevant information as possible, such as:

• Your name and contact details.
• Whether you are a candidate, client, employer, supplier or other contact.
• The person at Educated Appointments Ltd you have been dealing with, if known.
• A clear summary of your complaint.
• Key dates, emails, messages, vacancy names, candidate names or other relevant details.
• What outcome or resolution you are seeking.
• Any supporting documents or evidence you would like us to consider.

We will aim to acknowledge formal complaints within five working days of receipt.

If we need more information to understand or investigate the complaint, we may contact you for clarification.

We will review the information provided and consider the relevant records available to us. This may include:

• Reviewing emails, notes, CRM records, documents or communication history.
• Speaking with the person or people involved.
• Checking relevant vacancy, candidate, client or placement records.
• Considering any applicable policy, process, agreement or legal requirement.
• Reviewing whether our service, communication or conduct met expected standards.

Complaints will be handled as fairly and objectively as possible.

We will aim to provide a written response within 20 working days of acknowledging the complaint.

If the complaint is complex, involves multiple parties or requires additional information, it may take longer. Where this happens, we will aim to keep you updated and provide a revised timescale.

Depending on the complaint, outcomes may include:

• An explanation of what happened.
• An apology where appropriate.
• Correction of inaccurate information.
• A change to how a matter is being handled.
• A review of internal process or communication.
• Additional guidance to a candidate, client or employer.
• Confirmation that no further action is required.
• Escalation to a director or senior decision-maker where appropriate.

If you are unhappy with our response, you may ask for the matter to be reviewed again. You should explain why you remain dissatisfied and provide any additional information you would like us to consider.

A further review will normally be carried out by someone who was not directly involved in the original issue, where possible.

If your complaint relates to how we have handled personal data, we will review it in line with our Data Protection & GDPR Policy and Candidate Privacy Notice where relevant.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office if you are unhappy with how your personal data has been handled.

If a complaint involves safeguarding, safer recruitment, serious misconduct, risk of harm, discrimination or another serious issue, we will treat it with appropriate priority.

Where there is an immediate risk of harm, concerns should be raised with the appropriate emergency service, statutory safeguarding service, local authority safeguarding team, designated safeguarding lead or responsible organisation.

Complaints will be handled confidentially as far as reasonably possible. Information may need to be shared with people involved in the complaint, relevant decision-makers, professional advisers or authorities where necessary.

We will aim to limit information sharing to what is appropriate for reviewing and responding to the complaint.

We will take genuine complaints seriously. However, where a complaint is abusive, vexatious, repeatedly raised without new information, or pursued in a way that is unreasonable, we may limit further correspondence after giving a clear response.

Complaints can help us improve. Where appropriate, we may use complaint outcomes to review our communication, records, recruitment processes, policies or service standards.

To raise a complaint or ask a question about this procedure, contact:

Educated Appointments Ltd
Email: info@educatedappointments.co.uk