-
Case ref:201709160
-
Date:February 2019
-
Body:University of Edinburgh
-
Sector:Universities
-
Outcome:Not upheld, no recommendations
-
Subject:complaints handling
Summary
Ms C complained about the university's investigation into her complaint to them. Ms C had a number of concerns including the length of time that the university's investigation took to conclude, that the investigator was not impartial, and that the university had inappropriately told her that she was bound by confidentiality in relation to the complaint.
We found that the university's investigation into Ms C's complaint had been reasonable. We noted that the investigation was complex and involved interviews with a number of parties, and that the university had already apologised for the length of time taken to conclude the investigation. We did not find any evidence to suggest that the university's investigator was not impartial. We determined that it had been reasonable to remind Ms C that there was a need for confidentiality during the investigation, though we fed back to the university that they may wish to consider how this information is given in future investigations. We did not uphold Ms C's complaint.