Making a Complaint

We want to ensure all members and non-members who are going through or engaging with our Education provision have a high quality, positive experience. We recognise, however, on occasion, standards of service may not meet your expectations. 

Our Education Complaints policies covers the various areas of the IFoA education provisions; student admissions, exemptions, work experience, examinations, CERA award, and Life-Long Learning awards. There are certain areas not covered by these policies. Members should ensure they read the policy documents below before submitting a complaint.

Stage 1: Informal complaints

Before making a formal complaint you should, where possible, try to resolve the issue directly with the IFoA service or team responsible. You do not need to use the complaints email address listed below. The IFoA aims to resolve informal complaints within 5 working days.

Stage 2: Formal complaints

If you are still unhappy with the level of service you have received, you are able to raise a complaint via:

Educationcomplaints@actuaries.org.uk

• Your complaint should contain as much information and detail as possible, including any supporting evidence or documentation. The more information you can provide, the quicker we will be able to resolve your complaint.
• Each complaint received will be reviewed to ensure it meets the IFoA’s criteria and the threshold to be considered and investigated.
• You will receive an acknowledgement within 5 working days that your complaint has been received and who will be responding to it.
• The IFoA aims to resolve all complaints within 30 days, however, we hope in the majority of cases complaints will be responded to much sooner.
• In certain cases, the IFoA may not be able to respond within 30 days. You will always be informed of the reasons why this might occur.

Important information about making a formal complaint

1. The date when you submit your complaint should not be more than 6 months from when the issue occurred.
2. We cannot accept a complaint until the issue has been resolved by the relevant IFoA team. For example, an exemption to which you do not know the outcome of, an access arrangement that is still under consideration.
3. Please include any evidence or supporting material with your correspondence. This will allow us to investigate your complaint as quickly as possible.
4. Members should always try to resolve any issue with the IFoA team responsible before considering a formal complaint. 
5. The policies below should be read in full before submitting a complaint to ensure it meets the grounds.

Complaints policies  

Qualification Complaints. For individuals leading up to qualification as an Associate or Fellow.

Life-Long Learning Complaints. For members returning to study, eg for a CERA Award or a member pursuing a Lifelong Learning Award eg the Data Science Certificate.