Chartered Institute
of Linguists

CIOL Qualifications – complaints

The IoL Educational Trust (IoLET), trading as CIOL Qualifications, is a recognised awarding organisation and as such must comply with the requirements of the complaints process established by Ofqual.

CIOL Qualifications uses the following definition of a 'complaint':

A complaint is a concern about a service, or lack of service provided by CIOL Qualifications. Candidates sitting at CIOLQ Centre should follow and complete the complaints policy of the Centre.

Types of complaints

We cannot deal with the following types of complaints:

  • Anonymous complaints
  • Group complaints
  • Complaints made more than six months from the event concerning the complaint
  • Complaints about the content of our policies, unless maladministration or misconduct is alleged
  • Complaints considered to be aggressive or abusive
  • Complaints that fall under the CIOL Qualifications Appeals policy

How to complain

A complaint can be made in the following ways:

  • By writing directly to:

CIOL Qualifications, Thanet House, 231-232 Strand, London, WC2R 1DA

Complaints must include:

  • A description of the problem (including when it happened)
  • Candidate name and number
  • Language, level, title and, if appropriate, the unit /pathway of the examination
  • Examination Centre

Ways we might investigate:

  • Tape sampling
  • Investigating internal procedures
  • Questioning the oral examining team
  • Moderation

Examination related complaints must be made within 21 days of the examination.

Complaints will normally be acknowledged within one week of receipt and substantively responded to within the timescale for the issue of results. If a response will take longer than this, we will keep you informed of progress, the reasons for any delay and when we expect to reply in full. Once our final response is made, that is the end of our internal complaints procedure.

Complainant behaviour

We will treat every complaint seriously and fairly. We understand that some matters may cause frustration but IoLET will not tolerate abusive correspondence or persistent and repeated contact with us without any new evidence or information to bring to the investigation.