Complain about a further education college or apprenticeship

Tell your tutor, human resources team or line manager if you have a complaint - your organisation may be able to solve your problem informally.

There’s a different procedure for appealing exam results.

Make a formal complaint

You can make a formal complaint if you are not able to solve your issue informally.

You must follow your organisation’s published complaints procedure.

If you do not have the complaints procedure ask the human resources team or people manager at your organisation for a copy.

The complaints procedure should tell you:

  • what you need to send to make your complaint, for example a completed form or written evidence
  • where to send your complaint
  • how the organisation will treat your complaint, for example who will see it and possible outcomes
  • when you can expect a decision

If you’re unhappy with the outcome

You can complain to the Department for Education (DfE) about how your complaint was handled as long as your organisation is one of the following:

  • further education college
  • learning organisation that offers qualifications or apprenticeship schemes
  • sixth-form college that is not an academy
  • learning organisation that offers courses for people who are under 25 and have a learning disability

DfE does not deal with complaints about employment issues (for example, a problem with your contract if you’re working as an apprentice).

There’s a different procedure if your complaint was about an academy.

You can make a complaint using DfE’s customer help portal. DfE will reply to let you know what will happen next.

You must contact DfE within 12 months of the issue happening.

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