► Complaints Procedure

This is how the Union will deal with any complaint received by a member or other person arising from their dealings with the Students’ Union (including its clubs, societies, publications and trading services).

Any complaint concerning the conduct of an election or referendum should be raised with the Returning Officer or with the Deputy Returning Officer - returning@ussu.sussex.ac.uk - in accordance with the election rules, and not via this procedure.

Complaint handling

You should address your complaint to Sue Cornford, the Union’s Office Manager - s.e.cornford@sussex.ac.uk.

Your complaint will then be forwarded to the President (who may delegate to another full-time elected officer) and Union Director (who may delegate to another senior staff member) for initial consideration: they are your ‘complaint handlers'.

The complaint handlers will first consider whether the complaint should be dealt with on an informal level, or proceed directly to the formal stages below. At this stage they will formally acknowledge receipt of the complaint and notify you how as to how it will be dealt with.

Informal consideration

The complaint handlers will investigate your complaint; this may include obtaining written or verbal evidence from you, witnesses or any other relevant person.

The complaint handlers and anyone else involved will operate with due regard for the confidentiality of the individual(s) involved; any breach of this confidentiality will be treated with the utmost seriousness by the Union and may involve disciplinary action being taken.

They may then either:
a) Write to you stating that no action is proposed as a result of the complaint;
b) Write to you detailing what action has been taken, or proposed, as a result of your complaint;
c) Decide that the matter requires to be referred to the formal stages below.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint then you have 20 working days from the date of the Union’s response to request a review of this outcome, giving the reasons why you are dissatisfied.

Review

The review will be carried out by a panel made up of:
a) Union Director or nominee
b) President or nominee
c) One further member of the Union’s Operations Committee

Formal procedure

If the complaint handlers, or the review, decide that a more formal process is required to address your complaint, they may institute one or more of the following processes, according to the nature of the complaint:

a) A complaint about the conduct of one or more particular member(s) of Union staff (including a student in their capacity as a member of staff, but not including a full-time elected officer) will be referred to the relevant manager;

b) A complaint about a Union Media outlet (e.g. the Badger) will be dealt with in accordance with the Appendix on Union Media;

c) A complaint about a matter of Union Policy, or the way it or the Constitution is interpreted or implemented, will be dealt with by a relevant elected officer or Union committee/Council.

d) A complaint about the nature or level of services provided by any part of the Union will be dealt with by a relevant elected officer, staff member or Union committee/Council.

e) A complaint about the conduct of one or more particular students, acting as members of, volunteers in or representatives of the Union or a Union club or society, or one or more elected officers, should be dealt with in accordance with the Union’s Discipline Procedure.

Throughout the complaints procedure, the complaint handlers will ensure you are informed of the progress of your complaint.

You can download the full Union complaints and discipline procedure [pdf file]