Our Complaints Handling Procedure complies with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) guidance on a Model Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) and reflects Edinburgh College’s commitment to valuing complaints. It seeks to resolve customer dissatisfaction as close as possible to the point of service delivery and to conduct thorough, impartial and fair investigations of customer complaints, so that where appropriate, we can make evidence-based decisions on the facts of the case, as presented.

Often, we can resolve your complaint at Stage 1 (within 5 working days). If you are not happy with our response, you can ask us to consider your response at Stage 2 and we'll look into your complaint in more detail. At stage two, we aim to provide you with a final decision after no more than 20 working days, unless there is a good reason for needing more time. Should we need more time we will contact you to let you know the reason for this.

Once you have the final decision from us, if you are still not happy, you can then bring your complaint to SPSO for independent external review.

You can visit the SPSO website for more information

Guidance on how to complain

You can complain in person, by phone, in writing, via email, or by completing an Edinburgh College Complaints Form.

By phone: 0131 297 8662

By post: 24 Milton Road East, Edinburgh, EH15 2PP

By email: complaints@edinburghcollege.ac.uk

In-person: at any Edinburgh College campus

Complaints can also be made directly to the service concerned.  Shortly after your complaint has been closed by the service concerned you will receive an e-mail from the Complaints Handling Team to ensure that you are satisfied with the outcome and how your complaint has been handled.

You will find helpful guidance on complaining in our Guide for Complainants.

You can also access the full Complaints Handling Procedures parts 1-5.

Third-Party Complaints

You may wish a third party to act on your behalf in making a complaint to the College.  

We ask that you confirm your consent for them to raise the complaint on your behalf and to receive information about you during the process of the complaint.  You can give your consent by completing a Complaint Authorisation Form and returning this to the Complaints Handling Team – complaints@edinburghcollege.ac.uk

Please note that you will be copied into all email correspondence.

Additional support to make a complaint

We are committed to making our service easy to use for all members of the community.  In line with our statutory Equality Duty, we will always ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to help you access and use our services.  If you have trouble putting your complaint in writing or require any of our information in another language or format, such as large font, or Braille, please tell us in person - contact complaints@edinburghcollege.ac.uk or call 0131 297 8662.

Complaint Reports

We publish quarterly information on complaint volumes, outcomes and lessons learned.  This demonstrates the improvements resulting from complaints and shows how complaints are used to help us improve our services.  It also helps ensure transparency in our complaints-handling service.

We also publish an Annual Complaints Performance report on our website in line with SPSO requirements.  This summarises and builds on the quarterly reports we have produced about our services.  

If you would like access to reports from previous years please contact complaints@edinburghcollege.ac.uk

Compliments

If you have experienced a high standard of service, please let us know by emailing compliments@edinburghcollege.ac.uk.  We will record your feedback and pass any compliments on to relevant colleagues.