Appeals policy

An appeal asks us to look again at a decision about your assessment. This policy sets out what you can appeal, how, who decides, and what can change as a result. How to complain about anything else, and the timescales we work to, are in our complaints and appeals procedure. Where the two say different things, this policy is the more detailed and it applies.

What you can appeal

• The result of an attempt, where you believe you should have passed.
• A particular question, where you believe the answer we marked as correct is wrong, the question was ambiguous, or the point it tested was not covered by the course.
• A lockout, where you believe the count of your attempts is wrong, or that your circumstances warrant another attempt.
• A certificate that was not issued, or an expiry date you believe is wrong for the course you passed.
• A reasonable adjustment or special consideration that was agreed and not applied, or that you asked for and were refused. See reasonable adjustments and special consideration.
• A finding of malpractice and what we did about it, including a certificate we withdrew. See malpractice and maladministration.

You cannot appeal the pass mark or the blueprint for a course as such. They are set for the course version and published before you start. If you think one of them is wrong for everybody, tell us: that is a complaint about the course, and we take it seriously.

How to appeal

Appeal from your result. For 28 days after the result, your results page offers Appeal beside each attempt. Tell us which part of the decision you are challenging and why. Where it is a particular question, tell us what you answered and why you believe it is right. If we withdraw a certificate, the 28 days run from the day we tell you, and the results page offers Appeal beside it.

Until we decide it, the appeal is yours to change:

• Change what you wrote. Add a detail or correct one. Every version is kept, so the person who decides can see what you said and when.
• Withdraw it, with a reason if you want to give one. A withdrawn appeal is closed without a decision, and you can appeal the same attempt again while the 28 days are still running.

Once an appeal has been decided or withdrawn, it can no longer be changed. You can make one open appeal about an attempt at a time.

If you cannot use the result page, or the decision you are appealing is not about one attempt, write to training@rtriibe.com with the word appeal in the subject line within the same 28 days. You do not need any particular form of words, and you will not lose an appeal because you called it a complaint.

We will accept a late appeal where something outside your control stopped you appealing in time, such as illness, and you appeal as soon as you reasonably can. The result page no longer offers Appeal after 28 days, so email us, tell us why it is late, and we will record the appeal for you.

There is no charge for an appeal.

An appeal made from the result page is confirmed on screen straight away. We will also acknowledge it in writing within 5 working days, and give you a decision within 20 working days.

Who decides

An appeal is decided by a person at rTriibe who was not involved in writing the course or the question, and who was not involved in the decision you are challenging. Where the point turns on the subject matter rather than on the platform, we ask a subject expert who did not write the version you sat. A course that carries an accreditation, or is applying for one, names an author and a separate independent reviewer, so for those there is always somebody qualified to ask who is not the author. The conflicts of interest policy explains what we do if the person who would normally decide has a connection to you or to the question.

What we look at

We keep the paper you were given: the questions in the order you saw them, the order of their options, what you chose and how each one was marked, and when you started and submitted. So an appeal is checked against the record of what happened rather than against anybody's memory of it. Your employer is not asked and is not told that you have appealed.

The decision

An appeal is either upheld or not upheld. We tell you which in writing, by email, with the reasons.

Marking is automatic and is not done again by hand, so an appeal does not produce a new score for the same paper. Where an appeal is upheld, we put it right in one or more of these ways:

• Void the attempt and allow a fresh one. The attempt is set aside with the reason recorded, it no longer counts against any limit, and you can sit a new paper.
• Lift a lockout, so that you can try again straight away.
• Issue the certificate, where you should have been given one.

Where the fault was in the course itself, such as a wrong question, we also correct the question or withdraw it from the bank, and correct or withdraw the course version where that is needed.

The decision, and anything we did because of it, is recorded alongside the original attempt. Your record still shows what happened, what changed, when and why. Nothing is deleted.

If a question was faulty

A faulty question rarely affects only the person who noticed it. Where an appeal shows that a question was wrong, we use the attempt records to find everybody who was given it and put their results right in the same way, without waiting for them to appeal. We tell each of them what we have done.

What your employer sees

If an organisation sponsored your training, it sees whether you passed and your certificate, and never your answers, score or attempt history. An appeal does not change that. Where an upheld appeal leads to a certificate being issued, your employer sees the certificate, because that is the part it was always shown.

If you disagree with the decision

Ask us to look again. The escalation, who hears it and how long it takes are in the complaints and appeals procedure. After that, where the course carries an accreditation, the body named on the course page may consider it under its own procedure. That procedure, and its own time limit, are that body's to set, and we will give you its details and the correspondence so far.

What we record

We keep every appeal, the decision and the reasons, for 6 years from the date the matter is closed. Accrediting bodies can ask to see that record, and it is also one of the ways we find a question that needs rewriting.