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Enquiries and Appeals Policy

CPCAB’s Enquiries and Appeals Policy is designed to meet the requirements set out In The Statutory Regulation of External Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, QCA 2004, paragraphs 23-27.

External Assessment

Enquiries about External Assessment results:

Tutors/coordinators can contact CPCAB with an enquiry about the external assessment results for individual candidates and/or groups in order to determine whether, in the light of the evidence presented, an appeal may be indicated. A CPCAB counselling professional will access the papers for the relevant candidate group and offer limited telephone feedback. Enquirers must call the CPCAB reception desk within 4 weeks of their Centre receiving the external assessment results to arrange an appointment for receiving the feedback. There is currently no charge for this service.

CPCAB operates a clear policy of communicating only with Centres, not with individual candidates directly. All candidates with enquiries about external assessment results are therefore referred back to their Centre.

Please read these notes carefully before instituting the Appeals Procedure

  1. Appeals are only accepted in relation to the first, original external assessment for the candidate and qualification concerned. An appeal cannot be lodged after any external assessment re-sit.
  2. Any appeal must be submitted within eight weeks from the date of publication of the external assessment results by CPCAB.
  3. An appeal can only be lodged when the external assessment decision conflicts with the Centre’s actual or predicted internal assessment decision.
  4. An appeal can only be lodged by an Approved Centre and not by the candidate.
  5. Once started, the appeals procedure must be completed before a candidate can opt to register to re-sit.
  6. Centres lodging an appeal will be required to pay an administrative appeals fee in advance, specific to the qualification concerned. Details of the current fee are available from CPCAB. The fee will be refunded in full if the appeal is successful.
  7. No candidate registration fees will be refunded in relation to any outcome of this Appeals Procedure.
  8. In considering appeals against external assessment decisions, CPCAB will check whether it has (i) used procedures that were consistent with the regulatory criteria; and (ii) applied the procedures properly and fairly in arriving at judgements. This process will be quality assured by the independent consultant (see xviii)
  9. In the event of an unresolved appeal, that is where the Appeals Assessor is unable to reach a decision, the appeal will be passed to a second independent Appeals Assessor. If the second Appeals Assessor is also unable to reach a decision, the appeal will be referred to an Appeals Panel whose members are independent of CPCAB.

    In the event of an assessment decision being overturned during the appeals process CPCAB will take all necessary steps to ensure that any other candidates likely to be affected by the accuracy of the original decision are re-moderated and the outcome published to the Centre concerned.

    Group Appeals:

  10. Appeals will be accepted on behalf of whole candidate groups if, following the enquiry process, the Centre has reason to question the overall assessment of the group.
  11. Any group re-assessment will apply to all members of the group including any candidates already assessed as Proficient.
  12. A group appeal must be lodged by the Centre within the time frame set out above.
  13. The group appeals fee is charged, for each member of the group, at 50% of the full individual appeal fee.
  14. In the event of assessment decisions being changed by the group appeal process, the appeal fee will be refunded for all candidates where the assessment decision is overturned.

    Appeals against Internal Assessment decisions

  15. CPCAB normally expects appeals regarding internal assessment to be resolved in the Centre according to the Centre’s own Appeals Policy. CPCAB requires each Centre to follow procedures that are consistent with the Centre’s own Appeals Policy.

    Enquiries & Appeals against other CPCAB decisions affecting Centres

  16. Occasionally a Centre may wish to enquire or appeal against other CPCAB decisions affecting the Centre, e.g. the decision to withhold the Annual Practising Certificate or to deregister a Centre. In this event CPCAB will accept an appeal in writing from the Head of Centre and will respond according to the time frame set out for external assessment appeals.

    Quality Assurance

  17. CPCAB’s appeals procedure is quality assured by a qualified independent consultant, to ensure that the CPCAP procedures have been applied properly and fairly and in accordance with the regulatory criteria.
  18. This Appeals Policy replaces all previous CPCAB appeals policies and will be reviewed periodically by CPCAB.

The Appeals Procedure

A. The Centre is responsible for:

  1. Providing a copy of this Appeals Procedure to each tutor;
  2. Advising those candidates/groups who have been (or are predicted to be) successful in the internal assessment, but unsuccessful in the external assessment, that they can either register directly to re-sit or lodge an appeal within eight weeks of publication of the results by CPCAB;
  3. Advising candidates/groups that, if they appeal, they will need to wait for the outcome of that appeal before they can register to re-sit the external assessment;
  4. Providing the candidate with a copy of this Appeals Procedure in cases where a candidate is considering appealing against an external assessment decision;
  5. Writing to CPCAB with their reasons for appealing. Please note that the Centre and not the candidate/group must write to institute the appeal procedure. The letter should be clearly headed ‘Formal Letter of Appeal’ and be accompanied by the relevant administrative appeals fee;
  6. Informing the candidate/group of the result of the appeal.

B. On receipt of a Formal Letter of Appeal, CPCAB will:

  1. Acknowledge receipt of the appeal;
  2. Appoint an Appeals Assessor who will re-assess the candidate’s work or grounds for appeal;
  3. Inform the Centre in writing of the result of the appeal. This decision in all cases will be final and the Appeals Procedure will thereby be terminated;
  4. Issue the candidate with the qualification and refund the administrative appeals fee, in those cases where the appeal is successful.

C. Time limit for the appeal

The Appeals Procedure will be completed within 8 weeks from the date of receipt of the ‘Formal Letter of Appeal’, except when a second or independent Appeals Assessor has to be appointed for whatever reason. In these cases, the appeal will be completed within a further four or eight weeks as appropriate.