Appeals code

Appeals code

1. Appeals against refusal of Membership of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (“the Institute” or CIEA”)

1.1 The Institute’s Board of Trustees and its Registration Authority are responsible for setting the membership criteria and requirements for entry to all Membership categories, as set out below.

1.2 If an applicant is refused entry to a category of Membership, the applicant will be offered an opportunity to appeal against the refusal.

1.3 A cost recovery fee fixed by the Institute from time to time will be charged for this service. However, the fee will be reimbursed if the appeal is successful.

1.4 A Membership Appeals Panel appointed by the Board of Trustees will investigate all appeals in accordance with the following procedure.

2. Membership Categories

This appeals procedure applies to the following categories of Membership:

2.1 Student Member

2.2 Affiliate Member

2.3 Associate Member

2.4 Full Member

2.5 Fellow

2.6 Registrant (i.e. those persons admitted to the Register of Chartered Educational Assessors)

2.7 and, unless specifically excluded in any future versions of this procedure, any other categories of Membership that are introduced by the Institute.

3. Procedure and Grounds for Appeals

3.1 All Appeals must be made in writing and describe in detail the nature and grounds of the Appeal. (For the avoidance of doubt “in writing” includes e-mail and facsimile.)

3.2 All Appeals must be made within 28 days of the date of the letter refusing Membership.

3.3 All Appeals must be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer at the registered office of the Institute.

3.4 All Appeals must be accompanied by the requisite fee, which is made up of two parts: preliminary administration; and consideration by the Membership Appeals Panel.

3.5 A letter or e-mail of acknowledgement will be sent to the Appellant upon receipt of their appeal and the requisite fee

3.6 An appeal against a decision not to confer Membership in a given category must be made on one or more of the following grounds:

3.6.1 The criteria for admission to the Membership category have been misinterpreted or incorrectly applied by the Institute

3.6.2 There has been an administrative or procedural error on the part of the Institute.

3.6.3 The Institute has misinterpreted the information supplied by the applicant.

4. Administration of Appeals

4.1 The Appeal will be checked to ascertain whether it quotes one of the specific reasons given in clause 3.6 above.

4.2 Appeals which do not quote one of the specific grounds may be rejected and a letter sent to the Appellant, together with the return of part of the fee.

4.3 Appeals which do quote one of the specific reasons will be accepted for consideration by the Membership Appeal Panel. The Appellant will be informed of this decision, provided with a copy of this procedure document and advised that the Appeal will be dealt with in accordance with the procedure.

4.4 This preliminary stage will be completed within 28 days.

4.5 The Membership Appeal Panel shall meet in person to consider the Appeal within three months of the end of the preliminary stage if the Appeal application meets the grounds specified in clause 3.6 above.

4.6 The quorum for the Membership Appeal Panel shall be three Members (including the Chair). No Member who played a part in the original decision to refuse membership shall sit on the Membership Appeals Panel.

4.7 The Membership Appeals Panel may (but are not obliged to) offer the Appellant an opportunity to present his or her case in person and (whether or not the Appellant chooses to present his or her case in person) will decide on the action to be taken.

4.8 All decisions made by the Membership Appeal Panel will be final and no further correspondence will be entered into.

4.9 Decisions made on Appeal will be conveyed in writing to the Appellant.

4.10 For successful Appeals, the fee will be reimbursed.

5. Procedure and Information to be considered during Appeals

5.1 The Chair of the Panel must ensure that the Panel is quorate.

5.2 The Chair must name the individual making the Appeal and ask the members of the Panel to declare any conflict of interest.

5.3 If a conflict of interest becomes evident, then the Member concerned must be required to stand down and, if the remaining Members do not constitute a quorum, the Chair Panel shall appoint some other person and the Panel shall be reconvened.

5.4 The Chair must ensure that the exact nature of the Appeal is presented in a fair and appropriate manner.

5.5 The Chair must ensure that all the information relevant to the Appeal is presented to the Panel, and as a minimum must include:

  • 5.5.1 A copy of the original application
  • 5.5.2 A copy of the letter refusing membership
  • 5.5.3 The original letter of Appeal from the member or prospective member
  • 5.5.4 (If relevant) the current CIEA Membership category grade of the member concerned
  • 5.5.5 (If relevant) the Membership category grade that has been offered to the Member or prospective Member
  • 5.5.6 The membership category grade that has been refused (if relevant); a profile of the member from information held on the CIEA membership database, including details of CPD (Continuing Professional Development);
  • 5.5.7 A copy of the CIEA Membership criteria and requirements to entry to all membership categories

5.6 The Chair shall direct all discussion of the Appeal and summarise the conclusion of the Panel.

5.7 A report on the proceedings and outcome will be made by a professional member of staff of the Secretary to the Panel.

5.8 This report must be approved by the Chair of the Panel, and shall be given to the Board of Trustees and the Committee for Membership.

5.9 Notification of the decision should be sent to the Member or prospective Member by or on behalf of the Board of Trustees within 28 days of the meeting of the Membership Appeals Panel.

6. Actions available to the Membership Appeal Panel

6.1 The Panel may:
6.1.1 Reject the Appeal, where the Panel feels that the Appeal is unjustified, or
6.1.2 Reject the Appeal and either
(a) Confirm the Membership category grade offered or
(b) Agree on a Membership category grade to be offered, or
6.1.3 Request additional information from the Appellant, or
6.1.4 Accept the Appeal and confirm the Membership category grade applied for.

7. Waiver of Legal Redress against the Institute for its Appeal decisions and process

Any person who initiates an Appeal in accordance with this Code waives their right to legal redress through the Courts of England and Wales (what about Scotland and worldwide?) for the outcome of such Appeals and the processes whereby the Institute reviews all Appeals. The Institute shall not be liable to an applicant whether in contract, tort or otherwise for its decisions.

8. Additional applications for appeals not taken further at the Initial Review Stage

A person whose application is rejected in accordance with clauses 4.1 & 4.2 above at the initial stage may write again to the Institute to make up to two additional Appeal applications. Such persons will need to ensure their subsequent attempts cite at least one or more of the grounds specified in clause 3.6 for their application to succeed.

9. Confidentiality

9.1 All materials relating to the Appeal will be provided to the Members of the Membership Appeal Panel on the day of the meeting and collected at the end of the discussion.

9.2 The Membership Appeal Panel will be given time to read the materials and consider the Appeal.

9.3 All materials relating to the Appeal will be retained by the Institute and marked “Confidential”.

9.4 Under the Data Protection Act 1998, the person making the Appeal has the right to see any papers relating to the Appeal.

9.5 The decision of the Membership Appeal Panel and the overall justification for the decision will be recorded in the report on the proceedings.

9.6 No discussion will be recorded and the report will be non-attributive.