Appeals procedure

How do I request an appeal?

You need to request an appeal in writing within 28 calendar days of the date on the outcome letter or email. In special circumstances, we may extend this deadline.

An appeal will only be accepted if one of these apply:

• There’s new information or evidence which may affect the outcome of the investigation.
• Our policy, procedure or investigation process wasn’t followed, which may have affected the outcome of the investigation.
• It meets our threshold as a serious risk to our reputation or otherwise.

A request for an appeal must provide all relevant details, including any new evidence.

The sanction, or other outcome, will remain in place during the appeal process.

What happens when I request an appeal?

We’ll acknowledge your appeal request within 5 working days and let you know when we expect to decide whether the appeal is accepted or declined. In complex cases we may extend this timescale. We’ll let you know if this is the case.

We’ll also let your chief commissioner and county commissioner know that you have requested an appeal.

The relevant HQ team will pass the appeal request to the chief guide or director of membership services. In exceptional circumstances, this may be delegated to an appropriate senior staff member, senior volunteer, or lead volunteer. The relevant HQ team will provide them with relevant information regarding the case.

The chief guide and/or director of membership services will decide whether to accept or decline the appeal request.

If the appeal is accepted, we’ll write to you to let you know. We’ll explain the next steps, including how we intend to take this forward and the timescale. We’ll let you know if we need any more information.

If the appeal is declined, we’ll write to you to let you know. We’ll explain why the appeal hasn’t been accepted and respond to any outstanding concerns. This is the end of the appeal process.

What happens after an appeal is accepted?

We’ll appoint an appropriate appeal investigator or panel to hear the appeal. To make sure the appeal is impartial, they won’t have been involved in the case before.

The investigator or panel will review any new evidence submitted as well as the original investigation. They may need to gather and review additional information or conduct new interviews.

Only in exceptional circumstances will an entirely new investigation take place. If this is required, it’ll follow our investigation procedure.

Appeal outcomes

The appeal investigator or panel will write a report collating and sharing their findings from their review of the original investigation, and of any reinvestigation.

They’ll make recommendations to either keep the original investigation outcome or sanctions or change them. They’ll also raise anything else which needs to be addressed.

The chief guide, director of membership services, and/or other appointed individual, will review these findings. They’ll decide whether to either:

• Confirm the original outcome of the case.
• Revoke the original outcome of the case.
• Change the original sanction.

We’ll inform you of the outcome of the appeal. We’ll also inform any other people involved, including the country or region office.

The appeal outcome is final and marks the end of the appeal process.

Change log

October 2025 – updated version published.