If a service provider does not agree with their assessment outcome, an appeal may be submitted to their accrediting agency or directly to the Commission. It is strongly recommended that service providers exhaust all avenues of review or appeal with their accrediting agency before submitting an appeal to the Commission.
The Commission will only consider appeals where there is evidence that the relevant accrediting agency did not comply with Commission-specified policies, processes and/or directions relating to the assessment conducted.
An appeal, whether made to the accrediting agency or directly to the Commission, must be submitted within 20 business days of the service provider receiving its final assessment report from its accrediting agency. Where an appeal is made to the Commission following an appeal to its accrediting agency, it must be made within 20 business days of the accrediting agency ruling on its appeal.
All appeals are to be in writing and submitted to the Safety and Quality Advice Centre via AdviceCentre@safetyandquality.gov.au.
Supporting evidence and documentation should accompany the appeal.
Submissions should include:
- Name, title and contact details of the person (with delegated authority) submitting the appeal
- Service provider name and address
- Name of accrediting agency
- Accreditation expiry date, if relevant
- Assessment date(s) relevant to the appeal
- Reason for submitting an appeal
- Evidence supporting the appeal.
On receipt of an appeal, the Commission will seek information from the relevant accrediting agency, and review the evidence provided by the appellant, accrediting agency and regulator (if relevant). The Commission will then establish a panel to review the appeal and make recommendations to the Commission’s Chief Operating Officer.
The outcome of an appeal may involve one or more of the following:
- Find any or all matters reviewed not substantiated
- Find any or all matters reviewed substantiated and make recommendations to the agency for corrective action
- Find any or all matters reviewed substantiated and take further action
- Find any or all of the matters reviewed substantiated but determine further action is not warranted under the specified circumstances.
The Commission will:
- Notify the relevant service provider and accrediting agency in writing of the outcome of the appeal, within five business days of the panel being convened.
- Notify in writing the relevant service provider and accrediting agency of any action to be taken, together with the date of effect of that action.
Once the Commission has issued a determination, there is no further avenue of appeal within the Commission.