Complaints
The SU recognises that making a complaint can sometimes feel difficult and perhaps even daunting. While we cannot guarantee what the outcome will be; we promise to always listen to what you have to say, treat your complaint in confidence and to do our best to make the experience as easy as possible for you.
To make a formal complaint to The SU all you have to do is email su-cda@bath.ac.uk.
There are two types of complaints that can be made to The SU and these can be about:
- an issue that has arisen with The SU or any of its Student Groups that a person wishes to raise formally;
- a misconduct committed by a Student Member at any activity organised by The SU or its Student Groups.
If your complaint does not concern either of the above, please feel free to still send us your complaint as we may still be able to help get it where it needs to go.
The following are some useful tips we strongly recommend you consider when making your complaint:
- seek help with writing your complaint. You may wish to consider contacting the Advice & Support team as they can give you independent advice and support with your complaint throughout the process, from writing it through to attending meetings with you if needed;
- cover all the relevant points but be as brief as you can. Avoid writing a long email; you may feel you need to write in great detail but in most cases, this is not necessary;
- make it easy to read by using numbered lists and headings to highlight the important issues;
- make sure you've given your contact details so that if we need to contact you for more information we can;
- if you’d prefer to send an anonymous complaint, you can use the Report and Support tool. Please note if you do opt to report anonymously we won’t be able to contact you or provide any support;
- send copies of relevant documents as long as these help us understand your complaint or provide evidence to support it. Make sure to keep original copies and only send copies with your complaint;
- get someone you trust to read your complaint before you send it as if they can’t understand it then the person you send it to is likely to struggle too, as above Advice and Support can help here;
- explain clearly what you hope to achieve by complaining. But be realistic: your request needs to be fair and in line with the problems you have had.
In responding to your complaint, we will always seek to identify and where possible learn from your experience in order to improve the way we do things.
Depending on what type of complaint, it is either the Complaint policy or the Student Member Disciplinary policy that will be followed. These can both be found on our policy page.
However, understanding the process is not essential to making a complaint as we will advise you on each step of the process as we handle your complaint or the Advice and Support team if you’d like their help too.
While there are some notable differences between the two policies, they follow the same three stages:
- Stage 1: staff member responds to your complaint;
- Stage 2: Chief Executive/Deputy Chief Executive responds to your complaint if you appeal against the response given under stage 1;
- Stage 3: Members of the Board of Trustees responds to your complaint if you appeal against the response given under stage 2.