Fellowship candidates have the right of appeal if they consider their result to have been unjust.
An appeal must be received by CIHT within six weeks of the candidates being notified of their result.
Appellants should set out their grounds for appeal in writing to the Head of Membership (HoM) via email to membership@ciht.org.uk
On receipt of the email, the HoM will check the review file, resolve any queries, and ensure that the grievance meets the appeals criteria.
Normal grounds for appeal are where:
1) the candidate has failed in no more than one of the assessment categories below:
Technical achievements
Financial responsibility
Management and leadership roles
Contribution to training, mentoring, and staff development
Promotion of the profession and commitment to diversity and inclusion
Active Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Note: Candidates who fail to demonstrate sufficiently their knowledge of and personal involvement in highways and transportation issues will be judged to have failed their Fellowship application, whether or not they have failed in any other category.
2) there have been serious administrative failings on CIHT’s part which the appellant believes prejudiced their chances of success
3) an unforeseen event at the time of the Review.
If the appeal does not meet the criteria, it will not be accepted and the reasons will be explained in an email to the appellant.
If the appeal meets the criteria, a copy of the appeal email, the email letter, the reviewer checklist form and the appellant’s CV will be sent to the Membership Application Panel (MAP) Chair, who will be asked to provide a short report addressing the grievances raised. The appellant’s sponsors may also be contacted at this stage and their written views, together with any evidence of adverse circumstances not known at the time of the review, will be requested.
All relevant documentation will be presented to the Appeals Panel
The Chair of the Membership Application Panel must be present along with two other reviewers. Neither reviewer will have been involved in the original review, and care is taken in their selection to avoid any possible conflict of professional interest with the appellant.
The Panel may decide to interview the appellant via Teams call.
The Appeals Panel will make one of the following recommendations:
• to uphold the original recommendation;
• to invite the appellant to re-submit with added detail;
• to reverse the original decision.
All appeals will be processed as quickly as possible, ideally within three months of receipt of the appeal. Appellants will be notified of the Panel’s decision, which is final, by the Head of Membership via email.
