Source · SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman)

Fife College

SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Upheld Reference 201303702 Sector Education Category complaints handling Decided 01 March 2014

Full decision

Summary

Mr C's daughter was not making the required progress on her college course and was transferred to part-time attendance. Mr C complained that the college had not taken action to resolve the academic difficulties she was having. The college investigated and did not uphold his complaint. Mr C considered that the college had not dealt adequately with his complaint when the college decided that his daughter had not made successful progress on part-time attendance to continue her studies. He said that when he asked how to appeal this, he was given conflicting information and told that he had exhausted the internal procedures.

We upheld Mr C's complaint, as our investigation found that, although the college had carried out a proportionate investigation, made a reasonable decision about his daughter's progress, and had tried to support her in her studies, they had not handled his complaint well. Neither had they clearly communicated with him in terms of the complaints procedure and other information.

Recommendations

We recommended that the college: apologise to Mr C for not adequately handling his complaint; and share our decision letter with relevant staff.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201303702 as a PDF (12.5 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018

View original on SPSO (Scottish Publ… website

Other decisions involving Fife College

Reference Date Summary Outcome
201502220 01 May 2016 Miss C complained that the college failed to allow her to complete an award, and about their handling of her … Not Upheld
201305897 01 Aug 2015 Mrs C complained on behalf of her daughter (Miss A) who was a student at the college. Miss A has … Not Upheld
201401337 01 Jun 2015 Mr C was a student on a course that included an assessed placement. Towards the end of his course he … Not Upheld
201300718 01 Dec 2013 Miss C complained that the college had unfairly withdrawn her from her course and had failed to address her concerns … Partly Upheld
View all decisions for this organisation