Complaints and appeals

A certification body that cannot be challenged is not credible. This is how to do it, and what we commit to in return.

Complaints

A complaint concerns CBA’s service: the materials, the examination experience, an Approved Learning Partner, or how you were treated. Send it to us with as much detail as you can.

• CBA acknowledges a complaint within five working days.
• CBA responds substantively within fifteen working days.
• If it concerns an Approved Learning Partner, we investigate the provider directly and tell you the outcome. Accreditation can be suspended or withdrawn as a result.

Appeals against an examination result

An appeal concerns the result itself. There are two grounds:

• Procedural — something went wrong in how the exam was administered.
• Assessment — you believe a question was defective, outside the published blueprint, or incorrectly marked.

Submit an appeal within 30 days of receiving your result. It is reviewed by someone who was not involved in the original decision.

There is no fee to appeal. If that ever changes it will be published here, with notice, before it applies to anybody.

We acknowledge an appeal within five working days and decide it within twenty-five. Where deciding it needs an external reviewer it may take longer, and we tell you that rather than letting the date pass. If we uphold it we correct the result.

If an appeal reveals a defective question, we do not just fix your result — we re-mark every affected candidate’s paper, including those who already passed, and tell them.

Appeals against a conduct decision

A finding under the Code of Professional Conduct, or a sanction imposed under it, may be appealed by the person or the partner it applies to. Where the finding was that CBA’s own maladministration did not occur, the person who reported it may appeal instead.

The window is 30 days from the date of the written decision, the grounds and the process are those set out in the malpractice and maladministration policy, and the same deadlines apply: acknowledged within five working days, decided within twenty-five. It is considered by someone who took no part in the original decision, and there is no fee.

Malpractice and revocation

Where we find evidence of cheating, impersonation or falsified documentation, we may revoke a credential. You will be told the evidence, given an opportunity to respond before a final decision, and given the same right of appeal as any other decision.

Revoked credentials remain in the public register showing status “Revoked”. They are not deleted — an employer who checked the credential previously must be able to discover that it has been withdrawn.

If you are still unhappy

We are not a regulated awarding organisation, so there is no statutory regulator above us for assessment decisions. Complaints about how we handle personal data can go to the Information Commissioner’s Office; complaints about misleading advertising can go to the Advertising Standards Authority.