Appealing no Assessment Centre invitation
If an applicant wishes to appeal against a decision not to be invited for an assessment centre, their application form will be reviewed by a member of the Senior leadership team (SLT), who will either confirm the original decision or move the application to the next stage and invite the candidate to an assessment centre.
Appeals must be received in writing via email within 14 days of the date of the decision email. Appeals should be sent to: recruitment@elam.co.uk
Appealing Assessment Centre outcome
We are unable to produce written feedback while the application process is still underway. If after the assessment centre, an applicant is not offered any of the following:
a place;
a place with special conditions, or
a place on the Reserve list
The applicant may appeal for a second chance by sending an email to the recruitment lead. The email must outline the reasons for the appeal, and why they feel they ought to be offered a second chance. This must be received within 14 days of the date of the decision email. Please note we do not provide feedback on the assessment centre, if you wish to appeal.
The second chance is designed for situations where the candidate believes that they did not perform as they normally would in the first instance as a result of extreme circumstances (e.g. due to illness) and firmly believes that they can improve; ELAM welcomes such appeals.
A decision will be made by a member of the SLT if the circumstances justify a second chance, further clarification or evidence may be sought by ELAM at this stage (e.g. medical documentation). We will not invite people back if they believe they did not perform at their best level but have no further extenuating circumstances.
We will not accept verbal requests for appeals.
If an applicant is not offered a place
If an applicant is not offered a place a further appeal may be made. The appeal must be made in writing and addressed to the Chair of the ELAM Governing Body, Shelley Gonsalves, by sending an appeal letter to arrive at ELAM within fourteen days of the decision being communicated to the applicant.
Either the applicant or their parent/guardian may write the letter/email.
The appeal letter must state clearly the grounds for appeal.
ELAM will then send an email acknowledging receipt of the appeal and confirming next steps. Appeals will be considered by a panel of two people, including a Trustee who is a member of the Day One Trust. The appellant and ELAM will both be required to submit evidence by a set date ahead of an appeal meeting, and the panel may restrict the addition of further evidence after this date. The appellant may attend the appeal hearing in person.
The appeal panel will, in the first instance, determine whether the second chance process was carried out in a fair, consistent and objective way. If they conclude that it was, they will dismiss the appeal and uphold the original decision. If they do not find that the second chance process was carried out in a fair, consistent and objective way, they will need to assess whether sufficient evidence has been presented to them to demonstrate that the candidate is of the required standard. The appeal panel will not introduce its own tests to assess suitability.
After careful consideration, the panel will decide either to:
Uphold the original decision, or
Uphold the Appeal and admit the candidate to ELAM/admit the candidate onto the waiting list.