Complaints, Appeals and Delisting Policy

How anyone can complain about a Glittered venue or about The Glitter Standard itself, how a venue appeals a decision, and exactly when and how a badge comes down.

1. Complaints

1.1 Who can complain, and about what

Anyone: a guest, a member of staff, a venue, a partner organisation, a member of the public. About a Glittered venue; about how The Glitter Standard assesses, tests, decides or behaves; or about the firewall between the accreditation and Glitterbomb Events.

1.2 How

• The anonymous form at theglitterstandard.co.uk/governance#complaint-form. No name is required. Contact details are optional and are used only to acknowledge and, with consent, to follow up.
• By email to hello@theglitterstandard.co.uk, or by post to the registered office.
• Complaints about The Glitter Standard itself or about the firewall go to the independent chair once appointed and, until then, to both founders. They are logged separately from venue complaints.

1.3 What happens

• Every complaint is logged with the date, the subject and the outcome, and kept for two years.
• Where contact details are given, acknowledgement within five working days.
• A complaint about a venue puts that venue on the next testing night in its area, or a standalone test within thirty days. The substance of the complaint, never the complainant's details, may be shared with the venue where that is needed to act on it and the complainant has consented.
• A complaint about The Glitter Standard is answered in writing within twenty working days by someone not involved in the matter complained of. Where it concerns a testing decision it is treated as an appeal (section 2).
• Complaints and outcomes are reported in aggregate in the annual report.

2. Appeals

A venue may appeal an improvement-window finding or a delisting within 28 days of the report. Appeals are in writing to hello@theglitterstandard.co.uk stating what is disputed and why.

Until the Standards Council has met and an independent chair is appointed, an appeal is heard by the two founders jointly, and from the day the independent chair is appointed by the chair together with a director who was not involved in the decision. The stages below apply from the Council's first meeting.

During an appeal against delisting the badge stays down and the map shows "under appeal". During an appeal against an improvement window the badge stays up and the sixty-day clock pauses.

3. Delisting

3.1 Triggers

• A second improvement-window fail within twelve months.
• A false annual declaration, or evidence found to be untrue. For an estate, this delists every venue under the same area manager until re-verified.
• A substantiated non-inclusive incident where the venue's response failed the person targeted.
• Use of the Seal or the word Glittered by a venue that is not accredited, or after accreditation has ended.
• Non-payment after two reminders, treated as lapse rather than delisting and not published.

3.2 Process

• Decision by two people, one of them a lived-experience member of the Standards Council, on the written record.
• Written notice to the accountable person with reasons and the right of appeal.
• Badge removed from the public map within seven days of the notice. The venue removes the Seal from its premises within the same seven days under the accreditation agreement.
• The fact of delisting, the venue name and the month are published on the register. The reasons are not.
• Reapplication after six months, from the beginning, at the standard fee.

4. Records and review

Complaint, appeal and delisting records are held for six years. This policy is reviewed by the Standards Council annually and whenever the law changes. Version 1.0, September 2026.

The Glitter Standard CIC, incorporation in progress · theglitterstandard.co.uk · Trained. Tested. Earned.