Appeals Policy

Appeals Policy UKAdance Regulated

Grade Qualifications

1.        Introduction 

This policy is aimed at teachers and candidates who are involved in the assessment of UKAdance Graded Examinations in Dance.

The purpose of this policy is to set out the procedures that candidates and teachers should follow if they wish to make an appeal to UKAdance.

This policy is available on our website.

This policy will be subject to review and monitoring by UKAdance and by RSL and if necessary will be amended and updated following feedback from candidates and centres. All future versions of this policy will be flagged and will be posted on our website.

Please note that we treat all appeals in confidence and will not make details available to any other parties. 

2.            Issue and review

The date of issue of this policy is January 2022. This policy will be reviewed annually.

3.            Procedure for appeals 

If a candidate wishes to make an appeal they may do so in writing to: 

The Quality Assurance Director
UKA Ltd,
Centenary House,
38-40 Station Road,
Blackpool, FY4 1EU.

Download the Appeals Request Form from the Forms page.

Appeals by candidates will be considered if they concern: 

a) Appeals against decisions on reasonable adjustments or special considerations requests 

b) Appeals against decisions on the outcome malpractice or maladministration investigation

c) Appeals in respect of errors in procedure 

d) Appeals in respect of errors in matching comments to marks awarded

a)            Appeals against decisions on special considerations or reasonable adjustments 

A candidate or teacher may make an appeal against UKAdance, if UKAdance has declined a request for a special consideration or reasonable adjustment. In these cases, the Deputy Chief Executive will review the application and make a final decision about whether the grounds for refusal was justified in terms of the equal opportunities and fair access to assessment policy and the policy for reasonable adjustments and special considerations. If a candidate wishes to take their appeal further, they can contact the regulatory authorities. 

b)            Appeals against decisions on the outcome of a malpractice or maladministration investigation 

A candidate or teacher may make an appeal against decisions or judgements made by UKAdance on the outcome of a malpractice or maladministration investigation. In these cases, the Deputy Chief Executive will review the investigation and make a final decision about whether the decision was justified in terms of the malpractice and maladministration policy. If a candidate or teacher wishes to take their appeal further, they can contact the regulatory authorities. 

c)            Appeals against errors in procedure or matching comments to marks awarded 

Grounds for an appeal will only be accepted if the comments made by examiners on report forms do not match the marks awarded, or if the processes set out in the examiners handbooks have not been followed. Appeals which question the technical judgement of the examiner or the marks awarded will not be accepted if the process has been followed. 

3.            Procedure for making an appeal

Candidates should contact the Quality Assurance Director in the first instance no later than 30 days from the postmark of the result slip, stating their name, candidate number and the nature of their appeal. Please provide as much information as possible to enable a thorough investigation to be carried out. All appeals should be clearly marked as appeals.  

An appeal can only be made once the result has been received.  

If a candidate or teacher has contacted UKAdance by telephone they should follow any verbal contact with an appeal in writing to the Quality Assurance Director.

Only one appeal per candidate will be accepted. This may come from either the candidate themselves, if they are aged over 16, their teacher or a designated person acting on the candidate’s behalf (e.g. a parent or carer).  

4.            Appeals procedure

All appeals consist of three levels.

4.1          First Level Appeal:  

The first level appeal will be managed by the Quality Assurance Director. A review will be carried out of the evidence available from the examination or assessment and a judgement made about whether the appeal should be upheld or rejected. 

Once the judgement has been made the appellant will receive written confirmation of the outcome. If the appeal is upheld, UKAdance may:-

Either make an adjustment to the marks or offer a free re-sit at the nearest examination centre. If a re-sit is offered, UKAdance will agree a time limit with the candidate to protect the interests of all concerned and reproduce the original conditions as closely as possible.

We will inform you within 28 days of acknowledgement of receipt of the appeal whether the appeal is successful or not.

The offer and acceptance of a re-sit will terminate the appeals process.

If no response to the appeal decision is received within 28 days of the decision being communicated to the appellant, UKAdance will close the appeal and no further correspondence will be entered into.

4.2          Second Level Appeal

If the appellant is unhappy with the judgements made in the first level appeal, then they have the right to a second level of appeal. The second level appeal involves a review of the decisions made in the first appeal by an appeals panel which is convened by RSL which is the regulated awarding organisation working in partnership with UKAdance.  The panel will make a judgement about whether the decisions reached in the first level of appeal should be upheld.

Once the judgement had been made the appellant will receive written confirmation of the outcome from RSL.

Second level appeals must be delivered to the RSL head office for the attention of the Head of Quality Assurance, clearly marked as an appeal, no later than 14 days from the date of the previous decision

RSL will inform you within 28 days from the beginning of the second stage of the process whether the appeal is successful.  A fee of £25 will be applicable for each candidate up to a maximum of £125 for five candidates or more which will be refunded if the appeal is successful.

If no response to the appeal decision is received within 28 days of the decision being communicated to the appellant, UKAdance will close the appeal and no further correspondence will be entered into.

4.3          Third Level Appeal

If the appellant is unhappy with the decisions reached in the second level appeal, they may take their appeal to the third level which consists of a review by an independent representative, assigned by RSL, who has no direct involvement with UKAdance.  The decision of the independent representative will be reviewed by the RSL Quality Committee and a final decision taken.

Third level appeals must be delivered to the RSL head office for the attention of the Head of Quality Assurance, clearly marked as an appeal, no later than 14 days from the date of the previous decision. The decision of the RSL Quality Committee is final.

We will inform you within 28 days from the beginning of the third stage of the process whether the appeal is successful. A fee of £50 will be applicable per candidate up to a maximum of £250 which will be refunded if the appeal is successful.

If no response to the appeal decision is received within 28 days of the decision being communicated to the appellant, RSL will close the appeal and no further correspondence will be entered into

4.4          Final Level Appeal

If a candidate is unhappy with the decisions reached in the third level appeal, they may refer any complaints about their appeal to the relevant regulatory authority.  For England, this is OFQUAL www.ofqual.gov.uk, for Wales Qualifications Wales www.qualificationswales.org, for Northern Ireland CCEA www.ccea.org.uk.  In Scotland SQA Accreditation www.accreditation.sqa.org.uk can be contacted in relation to complaints about the appeals process.