Complaints Policy

Last reviewed: 1 November 2026

1. Purpose and scope

Educate East Ltd ("we", "us", "our") is committed to providing a high standard of service to the schools and educational organisations we work with, and to the teachers, teaching assistants and support staff we place. When we fall short, we want to know, put it right and learn from it.

This policy explains how to make a complaint, how we handle it and how long it takes. It applies to complaints about Educate East Ltd, our colleagues and the service we provide, whether they come from a client, an educator or anyone else.

2. Our commitments

We will:

• take every complaint seriously, treat it fairly and look into it properly
• not treat you less favourably because you have complained
• tell you what we found, what we are doing about it and why
• use what we learn to improve how we work

3. What counts as a complaint

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about our service, our colleagues, our fees or our decisions, made by phone, email, in writing or in person. For example:

• delays, errors or poor communication on a booking or placement
• the conduct or professionalism of an Educate East colleague
• invoicing or pay errors
• the way an educator was treated by us during registration or placement
• information we gave that turned out to be wrong

Some matters are dealt with under a different route. Safeguarding concerns and allegations follow the procedure in section 6 and are never held up by the complaints process. Feedback about an educator's performance in a school is handled through our placement process.

4. How to make a complaint

You can complain in any way that suits you:

• by email to hello@educate-east.co.uk, with "Complaint" in the subject line
• by phone on 01284 664343
• by post to Educate East Ltd, Suite A, 82 James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 7DE

It helps us if you tell us your name and contact details, your organisation if you have one, what happened and when, and what you would like us to do. If you need us to make adjustments to help you complain, tell us and we will. Someone can complain on your behalf with your consent.

Our nominated representatives for complaints are the Directors, Hayden and Nick.

5. How we handle complaints

Stage 1: investigation and response. We acknowledge your complaint within two working days and log it. A Director, or a colleague who was not involved in the matter, investigates. We send you a written response within ten working days, setting out what we found, what we will do and any apology that is due. If we need longer, we tell you why and give you a new date, which will not be more than twenty working days from your complaint.

Stage 2: review. If you are not satisfied with our response, ask for a review within ten working days of receiving it. The review is carried out by a Director who was not involved at Stage 1 or, where that is not possible, by our Non Executive Director. We acknowledge your request within two working days and send you a final written response within ten working days. This is our final internal decision.

In summary:

• acknowledgement of your complaint: within 2 working days
• Stage 1 response: within 10 working days, or up to 20 if we tell you why
• request a Stage 2 review: within 10 working days of our response
• Stage 2 response: within 10 working days of your request

6. Safeguarding concerns and allegations

The complaints procedure is not the way to raise a concern that a child may be at risk of harm, or an allegation about an adult working with children, including an Educate East educator. These are reported at once.

• If you are in a school, tell the school's Designated Safeguarding Lead straight away and follow the school's procedures.
• If the concern is about one of our educators, also call us on 01284 664343 as soon as you can. We will work with the school and, where required, the Local Authority Designated Officer.
• If a complaint contains a safeguarding concern, we separate it out and act on it immediately, whatever stage the complaint has reached.

7. Confidentiality and fairness

• Complaints are handled in confidence and shared only with people who need to know in order to deal with them.
• Anyone complained about is told and given a fair chance to respond.
• We will consider anonymous complaints where we are able to investigate them properly.
• Personal information is handled in line with UK GDPR and our Privacy Notice.

8. Records and learning

• Every complaint is logged with the date, who raised it, what it was about, what we did, the outcome and how long it took.
• A Director reviews the log every quarter to look for patterns and agree improvements, and shares the findings with our Non Executive Director.
• Records are kept in line with our data retention schedule and are available to auditors and framework assessors on request.

9. If you are still not satisfied

You can take your complaint further at any point, including after Stage 2:

• Where a booking was made through a public sector framework, you can use the framework owner's own complaints route.
• Educators can complain to the Fair Work Agency, which took over the work of the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, if they believe we have broken the rules that govern recruitment agencies.
• If your concern is about how we have used your personal data, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

10. Review of this policy

We review this policy every 12 months, and whenever the law, framework requirements or what we learn from complaints means it needs to change.

Questions, comments and requests regarding this policy are welcomed and should be addressed to hello@educate-east.co.uk, or Educate East Ltd, Suite A, 82 James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 7DE.

Next review: November 2027