Appeals and complaints

A complaint is not the same as an appeal - it cannot affect the result of your assessment or examination. Please do not use the appeal process for Stage One and Stage Two assessment complaints, you should refer to the College complaints process below.

You should make an appeal if you are concerned that something in the administration or the running of an assessment (at a Stage One or Stage Two visit) or an examination (OSCE or Independent Prescribing Final Assessment) has had a negative impact on your performance. 

Appeals: IP and OSCE

If you believe that a procedural and/or administrative irregularity may have occurred during OSCE/IP Final Assessment, you may make an appeal. 

You can only make an appeal if you believe that there were procedural or administrative irregularities, or mistakes in the conduct of the examination or assessment, which cause reasonable doubt about whether the examiners would have reached the same conclusions had the irregularities not occurred. 

An appeal cannot be made against examiner judgment.

Appeals must be made within 28 days of the results date of the examination and can include supporting documentary evidence.

In the first instance, the appeal will be considered by the Appeals Panel. In some cases, the Appeals Panel may decide to refer a more complex appeals to the Appeals Review Panel.

NOTE: If you would like to extend your time on the Scheme or apply for a restart, please visit the pages on extending or restarting the Scheme. 

Appeals guide for applicants

Fees

The administrative fee for each application/appeal is £119. An appeal submitted against the decisions in two sections/stations or more, constitute separate appeals, and will incur additional charges. Please note that the application fee is non-refundable.  

How to request an appeal

To submit an appeal, go to the My College area. You will be required to submit any supporting evidence.

Useful information

Complaints

We treat any expression of dissatisfaction with the College’s handling of any part of the Scheme for Registration as a complaint. We listen to your complaints, treat them seriously, and learn from them so that we can continuously improve our service. We want to help you resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.

How to make a complaint

A trainee or supervisor who wishes to make a complaint about any aspect of the work-based assessment must submit their complaint via the link below. The College will investigate and respond to the complainant as soon as possible. In order to respond fully, the College team have the right to contact the supervisor(s), assessor(s) and/or the store manager or director of the trainee’s work-based assessment placement in relation to the complaint.  

PLEASE NOTE: It is not possible to re-mark a work based assessment, even if a complaint is made, the assessment will need to be taken again. 

Submit a complaint

Supervision concerns

While the College cannot get involved with issues between an employee and their employer, such as contractual disputes, if you feel that you are not being supervised in accordance with College guidelines and GOC standards, we may be able to offer you some support. 

You must give your supervisor or employer the opportunity to investigate and respond to your concerns first. Approach your supervisor, practice manager or line manager initially. Depending on where you are employed, you may also be able to contact your employer or pre-registration coordinator to discuss your concerns. 

If you need further support on talking to your supervisor or employer, or to clarify what you can expect from your supervisor, your Stage One assessor or the College’s lead assessor or deputy lead assessor will be happy to talk with you. To contact the lead or deputy lead assessor, email lead.assessor@college-optometrists.org.

Scheme for Registration contacts