Candidate Appeals Process

Should a candidate wish to appeal their assessment decision or other decision affecting the candidates, they must submit their appeal, in writing to the Policy and HR Director.  Their completed form must be emailed to the enquiries email address within 14 working days of being notified of the assessment outcome.   This would usually be the date given on the decision letter/e-mail.

If the appeal relates to another decision, the candidate must notify the Policy and HR Director as soon as is practical.  The Policy and HR Director has the discretion to consider and allow late requests where the candidate is able to demonstrate a good reason for the delay.

Within the request, the candidate must provide:

• their full name and date of birth
• their address
• their LRN registration number
• the date of the exam (not relevant for non assessment based appeals)
• the centre number and centre name (if applicable)
• the grounds on which the appeal is being made

1. The Policy Director will respond to the candidate in order to acknowledge receipt of the appeal within 5 working days;
2. Stage One: A complete review of the candidate’s assessment outcome will be carried out and which will include a review of the candidate’s scores for each of the units (where applicable) and a determination as to whether the assessment criteria has been met in full (or not);
3. If the appeal relates to a non assessment based decision, the review will focus on the reason for the appeal, and where, if applicable, LRN’s policy has been infringed;
4. In the case of point 3, applicants are required to submit supporting information, such as feedback received from LRN or other written information, which will assist LRN in arriving at its decision;
5. Candidates will be notified in writing within 10 working days of having carried out stage 1 of the appeals process;
6. If the candidate is dissatisfied with the outcome of stage 1 they can appeal this decision at which time stage 2 of the appeals process will be invoked;
7. Stage Two: An independent review (Appeals Panel) of the candidate’s entire script, which includes a review of the candidate’s test results, will be carried out;
8. If the appeal relates to a non assessment based decision, the review will be carried out by an independent member;
9. The candidate will be notified of the outcome of the independent review within 30 calendar days;
10. The decision of the independent review is final and is not subject to further appeal.

 We acknowledge the independent member will not have any day to day contact with LRN, its qualifications or units, including assessment.

The following section includes advice for candidates and/or centres as to the grounds for submitting an appeal.  Please note a candidate or centre’s dissatisfaction with the pass result, in itself, is not a reason for lodging an appeal. The candidate must demonstrate there were reasons for their performance which may have resulted in their inability to meet the standard for the assessment/examination.

• Misdirection on the part of the examiner/assessment team which led to the wrong answer provided by the candidate;
• Examiner failed to follow the prescribed assessment regulations which led to invalid responses from the candidate;
• Examiner failed to mark the candidate’s responses in line with LRN’s prescribed mark scheme.

• Disagreement with the outcome of an assessment;
• Poor performance demonstrated on the day (by the candidate) due to illness;
• Lateness or miscommunication with the centre on the day.

Where an appeal calls into question the integrity of LRN’s units or qualifications, resulting in an amendment to candidate’s examination script, the candidate’s record will be amended and an amended qualification certificate will be issued.  In the unlikely event of an individual appeal inferring that a more widespread error has occurred, LRN will initiate a full independent review of assessment results that may have been affected.

We acknowledge the independent member will not have any day to day contact with LRN, its qualifications or units, including assessment.

Any candidate whose result is changed following this review will be informed in writing and an amended qualification certificate will be issued.  It should be noted that prior to releasing candidate results, LRN ensures the assessment results are moderated in advance, therefore the likelihood of an error is minimal but LRN accepts the need for and will ensure the requirements laid out in this policy are followed.

In the event of any follow up investigation by the qualifications regulators’, LRN will work closely and cooperate fully with the investigation and will agree with any necessary remedial action with the qualifications regulators’.

Where an appeal leads us to conclude there has been an error in how the assessment was administered or in a breakdown as to how LRN adheres to the general conditions of recognition, LRN will initiate a full review of its systems and procedures.  The outcome of which will be included within the annual statement of compliance and any remedial action required will be noted within an action plan.

Where an appeal leads us to conclude there has been an error in how the assessment was administered or in a breakdown as to how LRN adheres to the general conditions of recognition, LRN will initiate a full review of its systems and procedures.  The outcome of which will be included within the annual statement of compliance and any remedial action required will be noted within an action plan.

Candidates will be charged £80 which must be paid at the time of their submitting the appeal.  The basis of this fee is to cover the administration processes and staffing involved in the appeals process.  The fee has been kept to a minimum in order to prevent acting as a deterrent to candidates.  The fee will be refunded to candidates in the event of an appeal being upheld.

Centres will be charged £150 which must be paid at the time of the centre submitting its appeal to LRN.  The basis of this fee is to cover the administration processes and staffing involved in managing the centre appeals process.  The fee has been kept to a minimum in order to prevent acting as a deterrent to candidates.  The fee will be refunded to centres in the event of an appeal being upheld.

Should centres wish to enquire about LRN’s systems, processes, procedures, or should they wish to seek information on assessment decisions affecting candidates at their centre, they are to contact LRN through the established communication channels such as:

Phone: +44 (0) 20 3793 3519

E-mail: enquiries@lrnglobal.org

Post: Examinations Unit, LRN, Unit 211, Burford Road Business Centre, 11 Burford Road, London, E15 2ST.