Complaints Policy

1. Our commitment

At Orienta, we want you to feel informed, supported and treated fairly. If something has gone wrong, we want to hear about it and have the opportunity to put it right.

We take complaints seriously and handle them respectfully, fairly and without charge. You do not need legal knowledge or formal language to make a complaint. Making a complaint will not result in unfair treatment, pressure to withdraw it or a lower standard of application support.

Orienta is a trading name of Northreach Education Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 17220179. Our registered office is at 14 Monmouth Road, London, E6 3QT.

2. What you can complain about

This policy covers concerns about Orienta’s own services, including:

The accuracy or clarity of information we have provided.
Communication, delays or application support.
The conduct of anyone acting on Orienta’s behalf.
Unfair treatment, discrimination or accessibility barriers.
How we have handled your personal information or documents.
How we have administered a referral reward or another commitment we have made.

You can complain whether you are a prospective applicant, a current or former applicant, or another person affected by our service. Someone may help you or act on your behalf.

We will consider anonymous concerns where there is enough information to do so, although we may be unable to investigate fully or provide an individual response.

3. Complaints about a university, college or funding body

Decisions about admission, course delivery, assessments, enrolment and student finance are the responsibility of the relevant provider or funding body.

Complaints or appeals about those matters should follow that organisation’s own process.

We can help you identify the appropriate route. If your complaint also concerns something Orienta did or failed to do, we will investigate our part rather than simply referring the whole matter elsewhere.

A complaint to Orienta does not pause a university appeal, funding deadline or any external time limit. Please tell us about urgent deadlines when you contact us.

4. How to raise a concern or complaint

You can contact us by email at hello@orienta.london, by telephone on 0204 524 0433, or by post to Complaints, Orienta, 14 Monmouth Road, London, E6 3QT.

For email, the subject line “Complaint — Your Name” helps us identify your message, but it is not a requirement.

Please tell us, as far as you can:

Your name and preferred contact details.
What happened and when.
How it affected you.
Any relevant correspondence or documents.
What you would like us to do to put things right.

You do not need to provide everything before contacting us. We can help you record a complaint made by telephone and confirm our understanding with you.

Please raise concerns as soon as reasonably possible while information is available. We will not automatically reject a complaint because it is raised later.

5. Accessibility and support

Tell us if you need help to make a complaint, an alternative format, a telephone conversation or another reasonable adjustment. You may involve a trusted person or representative. If you need language support, we will discuss what assistance we can reasonably arrange.

We will agree a suitable way to communicate and consider reasonable requests for extra time.

6. How we handle your complaint

If you feel comfortable doing so, you can first tell us what is wrong and ask us to resolve it informally. This is optional: you can ask for a formal investigation straight away, without completing an informal stage.

The Director – Admissions & Compliance currently manages formal complaints at Orienta.

We aim to:

Acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receiving it.
Confirm the issues we will investigate, who will handle the complaint and whether we need further information.
Provide a written outcome within 20 working days of receiving your complaint.

Working days mean Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays in England and Wales.

Our written response will explain: what we investigated and the evidence considered; whether each main issue is upheld, partly upheld or not upheld, and why; any action we will take, who is responsible and when it should happen; and how to request a review if you remain dissatisfied.

Where we have made a mistake, possible remedies include an apology, corrected information, practical help to resolve an application problem, fulfilment of a commitment or a change to our procedures.

7. If you disagree with the outcome

You can request a review by contacting hello@orienta.london, preferably within 20 working days of our response. Tell us what you believe was overlooked, any new evidence, or why you consider the outcome or process unfair.

We aim to acknowledge a review request within five working days and provide our final written response within 20 working days of receiving it.

If your complaint concerns the Director, or the Director handled the original investigation, we will explain this potential conflict and consider whether a suitable person who was not involved can review the matter. If an independent reviewer cannot be arranged, we will say so clearly and explain any relevant external options.

8. External advice and escalation

You may obtain independent advice at any stage. Our process does not prevent you from exercising your legal rights or contacting an appropriate authority:

Consumer advice: Citizens Advice can provide information about consumer rights and routes for further help at citizensadvice.org.uk.
Personal information: You can raise data protection concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
Provider-related complaints: A university, college or relevant recruitment partner may have a route for complaints about an agent acting on its behalf. We will identify an applicable route where one exists.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) is not a general complaints service for education agents; it considers eligible complaints about member higher education providers.

9. Confidentiality and records

We handle complaint information in accordance with our Privacy Notice and applicable data protection requirements. We share it only where necessary and lawful to investigate, respond, obtain appropriate advice or meet a legal obligation.

We keep proportionate records of complaints, evidence, decisions and corrective actions, with access restricted to those who need it.

10. Respectful communication and policy review

We recognise that complaints can be upsetting. We will not treat someone as unreasonable simply because they are distressed, persistent or disagree with us.

If communication includes threats, harassment or serious abuse, we may put proportionate arrangements in place, such as a single contact person or written communication only.

We review this policy at least annually and sooner if our services, staffing or relevant requirements change.