Complaints

To submit a complaint regarding an Election at the Students' Association, please follow the process detailed below, completing the Elections Complaint Form with full details of your complaint.

Your complaint will be acknowledged by the Depute Returning Officer, who will handle the investigation and maintain contact with you until your complaint has been handled.

Candidates should note that only complaints formally submitted using this form will be considered. Where informal complaints are received from candidates regarding another candidate by any other method, the candidate making the complaint will be advised to attempt to resolve the difference by discussing the issue with the other candidate or submitting the form to pursue a formal complaint investigation.

If a candidate decides to pursue a formal complaint, supporting evidence relating to the issue being raised must be submitted with your complaint. Please attach supporting evidence to the form where indicated. If you are unable to attach it to the form, please attach it to a covering e-mail and send it to hisa.returningofficer@uhi.ac.uk and it will be matched with your form.

The Depute Returning Officer will aim to respond to your complaint within 2 working days.

Complaint Deadline

Complaints regarding candidates will only be accepted up to the close of voting.

Complaints regarding the conduct or administration of the Election will only be accepted within 2 working days of the results being posted. If you wish to discuss the complaints process further please contact the elections coordinator, by e-mailing hisa.returningofficer@uhi.ac.uk

Complaint Process

1. Attempt to resolve complaint issues informally with those perceived to be in breach of the rules
    
2. If unable to resolve informally or if still unsatisfied, then complete the Elections Complaint form and submit a formal complaint to Your Students' Association’s Depute Returning Officer (DRO)
    
3. The DRO will conduct an investigation and make a formal ruling on the complaint
    
4. The DRO will advise the complainant of the outcome of the complaint

NOTE: During the complaint investigation it may be necessary to interview those involved in the complaint submitted, e.g. the candidate accused of being at fault. If that happens, full disclosure will be given to both parties to help Your Students' Association establish and evidence the facts.

Right To Appeal

1. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the DRO ruling, then the complainant has the right to appeal to the Returning Officer.
    
2. To appeal to the Returning Officer, the complainant must contact The Depute Returning Officer to inform them that they are dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaint and their wish to appeal.
    
3. The Depute Returning Officer will provide the complainant with an Appeals form for completion and return to Your Students' Association.
    
4. The Depute Returning Officer will then submit the Appeal form with any accompanying evidence to the Returning Officer for investigation
    
5. The Returning Officer will make a formal ruling on the Appeal and communicate the outcome to the Depute Returning Officer, who will advise the complainant of the outcome

Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour Policy

We want to ensure complainants feel heard and supported by this process. However, on rare occasions, a complainant's behaviour can become unacceptable. If the behaviour of a complainant involves abuse of Your Students' Association staff or processes, Your Students' Association will take action to protect its staff. To do that we will adopt UHI's Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour Policy.

Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour Policy
 

Complete The Complaints Form Below

Please note: You must be signed in to your UHI account to access the below form.