English UK student complaints procedure

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Complaints against English UK language centres are rare. But we can help if things do go wrong.

Start by talking to your English UK centre

If you are studying English at an English UK member centre, there is a system for dealing with complaints.

It would help if you started by talking to someone at your centre. Find out who to talk to by checking the student handbook or asking at reception. Talking to a staff member is the best way to sort out most problems. You can check if your centre is an English UK member on our language centre directory.

If you still have a problem, contact English UK

If you are still unhappy after talking to your centre, you can email English UK and explain your problem. We will talk to you and your English language centre to find a solution that everyone is happy with. Most complaints are solved at this stage.

Please write your email in English and send it to complaints@englishuk.com. You or your family must send the email, not your agent.

What if the problem has not been solved?

If you feel the problem has not been solved, we will send your complaint to an independent ombudsman.

The English UK Ombudsman will listen to both sides and decide what should happen. They will look at all the information about your complaint, including everything you and your centre have written to each other about it. They may also ask you and your centre some questions.

Your language centre must act on what the ombudsman says.

You can use this complaint system if you study English at an English UK member centre (with rare exceptions). You must follow their procedures if you are taking a different course at a university or college.

Who can complain?

You cannot use this complaints system if you are not studying English at an English UK member centre. It would be best to ask what to do at your school, college, or university.

In very rare cases, you may be studying an English language course at an English UK member centre which is not accredited. If so, you will not be able to use this complaints system.

We usually only act on complaints from individual students.

We can take complaints from agents if a booked group has experienced a problem, but we have the right to ask for complaints from individual students instead. This might be because the group's complaints are too varied to be treated as one issue.

When can agents complain on behalf of students?

We will accept complaints from agents for a group if:

The agent has written permission from the students or their parents/next of kin to complain
The complaint concerns the group's experience at the language centre, such as accommodation, tuition, transport, or activities. Individuals who are affected must make other types of complaints, such as visa refunds.

The agent can only ask for compensation for the students affected.