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Complaining to the OIA

‘The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) is an independent body, set up to run the Student Complaints Scheme in England and Wales. It is now a legal requirement under the Education Act 2005 for Higher Education Providers in England and Wales to become members of the OIA’

You can read more about the OIA here.

The OIA effectively act as a nationwide watchdog for universities, you can only complain to the OIA once you have reached the end of the University internal procedures.

What can the OIA do?

The OIA are a review body, not an appeal body. This means that they will not initiate a new investigation or decide on a new outcome. They will instead look at the decision made in your case and consider:

whether the University followed their own procedures properly; and
whether those procedures and decision making processes were fair and reasonable.

The OIA will decide whether your complaint is Justified, Partly Justified, or Not Justified. If your complaint is found to be justified, or partly justified, the OIA can consider the most appropriate course of action and make recommendations to the University. They will not overturn a decision but, if they find a decision to be unfair, they will recommend to the University that they reconsider your case in a fair way.

You have 12 months from the date of the Completion of Procedures (COP) letter from the University in which to complain to the OIA.

What can I complain to the OIA about?

The OIA provides an independent, free, transparent scheme to review student complaints and appeals against individual Universities.

The OIA look at final decisions made by the University on a number of issues including:

Academic appeals
Accommodation
Bullying and Harassment (including sexual misconduct)
Disciplinary matters (including plagiarism)
Discrimination
Extenuating circumstances
Fitness to Practise processes
Freedom of speech
Placements
Procedural irregularities
Research Supervision
Teaching provision and facilities
Unfair practices
welfare.

The OIA is unable to deal with the following:

Admissions, unless the person complaining is a former student of that higher education provider who is applying for re-admission, and the complaint is directly connected to their time as a student
Academic judgement
Student employment
Something that has already been the subject of legal proceedings in a court or tribunal unless those proceedings have been put on hold
Something that has already been considered by another alternative dispute resolution body.

FAQs

How can I complaint to the OIA?

In normal circumstances, once you have received a COP Letter, you can submit a complaint to the OIA through the MYOIA Webpage.

Again, only in exceptional cases, you may be able to submit a complaint without a COP Letter. For instance, where a provider has unduly delayed in either progressing the complaint or in issuing a Completion of Procedures Letter, or if there is evidence that the higher education provider might be obstructing the complaint, or where there is nothing to be gained by progressing with the internal processes.

To submit a complaint, you must have:

Completed the OIA Complaint form;
Included your COP Letter
Submitted your complaint within 12 months of the date of your COP letter.

If you miss this deadline, it is likely that your complaint will be rejected.

This is all you need to do in the first instance. The OIA will contact the University for further information. If they need anything from you they should be in contact with you.

How do I go about Writing my Complaint?

You will be asked to explain your complaint in section 5 of the form. You will see that it asks:

For a summary of your complaint: You will be submitting your complaint and/or appeal to the OIA as a supporting document, so you don't need to repeat everything here. You do need to provide a clear and concise summary of your complaint that focuses on the very essence of the issue.
Why you are dissatisfied with the decision and/or process followed:As above, the OIA is a review body that can review the University's decisions and decision making processes. The OIA accept that universities are able to make their own procedures but require that these procedures are reasonable and are followed by the institution making them. If the University have not followed their own procedures, you should explain how they have failed (i.e. quote the rules and link them to the University's actions/inaction). If you feel that the University's process was unreasonable in the circumstances, you need to explain why.
What you would like as a resolution to your complaint:What you put here may not be what you get but asking for something the OIA disagree with will not affect the outcome of your complaint in terms of whether it is justified or not. You will see below in the remedies section that the OIA have guidance as to what they see as a reasonable remedy. You can get an idea of what this is likely to be by reading their Putting it Right Framework and Case Summaries sections.

Can I argue that the University were unreasonable in their decision making?

Reasonableness is a tricky argument and it can be hard to show that a process is unreasonable without some kind of supporting evidence. You may, for example, feel that it is unreasonable not to allow you to complain about your marks because you disagree with the marker, but the OIA will not consider arguments about academic judgment.

Support can come from many places, including the OIA's Good Practice Framework. For example, if the University has decided that you are not fit to practise but the procedure used did not include key elements as required by The Good Practice Framework: Fitness to practise, you may have good grounds to argue that the decision making process was unfair/unreasonable.

What is the OIA Good Practice Framework?

The OIA Good Practice Framework is a group of documents produced by the ombuds body, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA). These documents set out the overriding principles and operational guidance intended for use by the University in ensuring their processes are robust, fair, transparent and timely. If the University has not followed these principles, your case for unreasonableness becomes much stronger than just your opinion. You can find out more information on their webpage.

Do I need to provide evidence?

When you submit your complaint you will need to provide the Completion of Procedures letter. The OIA will ask your provider to send them all the information they need, and they will share that information with you so that you can comment on it. If they do need anything further from you, we will ask you for it. Having the information the University has provided you may share with the OIA anything that you believe is missing.

What happens once I submit my application form?

When the application form is complete and submitted, it can take on average 6-18 months to get a decision from the OIA, therefore, any decision made by the University should be considered final until then.

As this is a transparent scheme any information that you share with the OIA will also be shared with the University for a response. Any information shared by the University regarding your case will also be shared with you.

If you want to know more about what happens after you have submitted your application form, you can find out more here.

What remedies can the OIA recommend?

If your complaint is found to be justified, or partly justified, the OIA can make recommendations to the University as to how to put things right. This may include:

A practical remedy such as a change of supervisor or recommendations to a School to make changes to the way they work moving forward; and/or
A financial remedy to compensate you for any financial loss and distress or inconvenience.

The OIA can consider claims for tuition fee refunds if the course is not what was promised or was poorly delivered. It is, however, very unusual for the OIA to recommend a full reimbursement. If you are seeking a financial remedy, we advise that you consider the OIA's Putting it Right Framework to get an idea of what financial compensation the OIA may deem appropriate in your circumstances.

The OIA usually employs the rule of precedent to ensure students, institutions and cases are treated fairly and equitably. This means that if your complaint is similar to others that have been reviewed previously, the outcome of your review is likely to be consistent with previous review decisions. As such, we strongly advise to consider the Case Summaries published by the OIA before submitting your complaint. If you can find a case similar to yours, you can use the outcome to assess whether the remedy you have been offered by the University is likely to be deemed appropriate or not.

What happens if I am unhappy with the decision of the OIA?

Once the OIA makes its final decision, there is no avenue of appeal. The decisions made are not binding on the student which means that you can reject any offer made by the University following the recommendation by the OIA. If you accept the offer from the University this is deemed as the full and final settlement of your case and you cannot appeal/complain any further.

If you still remain dissatisfied following the OIA final decision, you can, if you wish to take legal action. We would, however, always advise that you seek advice from a reputable legal professional before doing so.

Contact Student Advice

Advice@cardiff.ac.uk
+44 (0)2920 781410

Last updated: 25 Nov 2025 10:54