Union Complaints Procedure
If your complaint is relating to the Exec Elections, please email elections@lsu.co.uk
Loughborough Students’ Union is committed to providing a high-quality service that is acceptable to all users. In order to do this, we need you to give us any comments about our service and tell us when we get things wrong. We treat any complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction with our service which calls for a response. We listen to your complaints, treat them seriously, and learn from them so that we can continuously improve our service.
If you would like to report incidents of Domestic Violence (including honor-based), Bullying and Harassment, Stalking, Hate Incidents (including racism, homophobia, etc.), Safeguarding, Sexual Violence, Mental Health and Wellbeing (including self-harm and suicide attempts), Substance Misuse or any other welfare concerns, we would encourage reports to be made via the Loughborough University Incident Reporting Tool.
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not. We have a 3-stage procedure, stage 3 will only apply in certain cases: in accordance with section 22 of the 1994 Education Act, where the University has a requirement to ensure that the Union acts fairly on all complaints relating to its Governance and procedures. If you believe that you have been disadvantaged by the review panel ruling, in this case, you can request that your complaint be considered by the University Chief Operating Officer. For all other complaints, the decision of the review panel at Stage 2 is final.
Our policy covers complaints about:
- About services, facilities or products provided by the Students Union.
- About the conduct of an employee or elected officer of the Union.
- About actions contrary to the Union’s Governance.
- About any kind of harassment or bullying.
Our policy does not cover:
- Matters that have already been fully investigated through this complaints procedure
- Anonymous complaints
Our standard for handling complaints:
- We treat all complaints seriously, whether they are made by email or via online reporting
- We will treat your complaint in confidence.
- We will treat your complaint promptly – we will acknowledge receipt of a complaint within 3 working days and will send you a full reply within 10 working days.
- If we cannot send a full reply within 10 working days of receipt, we will tell you the reason why and let you know when we will be able to reply in full.
- We will submit an annual report to the University on the numbers and categories of complaints we receive, and the percentage of complaints upheld.
- All complaints received will be dealt with confidentially and in accordance with the requirements of GDPR.
How to complain
- You can send an email to commentsandcomplaints@lsu.co.uk
- It will help us to resolve your complaint quickly if you can give us as much clear detail as possible, including date, time and where it is necessary to review CCTV, location and what you and those around you were wearing.
The stages of the complaint’s procedure
Stage 1
In the first instance, we will try to get your complaint resolved by the Department or Section to which your complaint refers. Upon receipt we will contact the relevant Head of Department/Section and ask them to conduct a full investigate and where necessary, they may contact the complainant for further information.
Stage 2
If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request a panel review. The panel will be asked to review details of the complaint, the resolution offered by the Head of Department/Section and any supporting documents presented in writing prior to the review meeting. The panel may request that both the complainant and the Head of Department/Section be present during the review.
Stage 3
For matters relating to Union Governance and procedure only, if you are dissatisfied with the response of the review panel the matter will be considered by the University Chief Operating Officer. If on receipt of the Chief Operating Officer’s decision the complainant is still dissatisfied, they shall inform the Chief Operating Officer in writing within 14 days of their decision. An independent person shall be appointed by the Chair for the University Council in accordance with the provisions of the 1994 Education Act.
The independent person shall carry out such enquiries as they consider necessary and shall normally report within 21 days of their appointment. The decision of the independent person shall be final and shall be delivered in writing to the complainant and to the Chair of Council and will be fully complied with by the Union.
Timescales for handling a complaint
Stage 1 – maximum 10 working days
- Acknowledgement within 3 working days
- Full response within 10 working days
Stage 2 – maximum 20 working days
- Panel convened within 15 working days
- Full response within 20 working days
Stage 3 – approximately 10 -12 weeks
- Chief Operating Officer notified within 5 days