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My partner has been undertaking a training course to obtain a L3 qualification, which she paid £5000 for. It is mostly practical based in person training (we are in England).
When she enrolled, she informed them in the paperwork she has autism and needs extra clarification with instructions. We raised a complaint as they have not been providing this adjustment (and others requested at later dates) - e.g. the trainer telling her to speed up but being unable to give instructions as to how, leading to her being told to pay a fee to extend the course as she is too slow for assessment.
Numerous other incidents have occurred, including the Director completely ignoring questions sent via email (even when my partner stated she is asking due to her autism) - either replying without acknowledging the questions, or not replying at all. The training school have continuously made calls to her phone, when they have been told multiple times to contact me as she cannot make phone calls due to her autism. The director has also continually taken a very long time (sometimes over a month) to respond to emails despite multiple follow ups, and has generally lacked competency in basic email tasks that would help provide extra support (e.g. repeatedly not understanding how to CC in other staff to emails so they can provide support).
Now, after a couple of months since our initial complaint, she has denied all claims (even though some are evidenced in the same email chain), but has finally agreed to provide a refund and wants us to provide the figure. My partner cannot use any of this training towards a qualification elsewhere, she will need to pay the full £5000 again at a different training school. I would therefore like to ask for the full amount, with the understanding that although they have used time and resources during the ~60% of the training hours she has undertaken, she has been set back a year in her career by their failure to adhere to their legal obligations under the Equality Act, and so should not also have to be out of pocket to gain the qualification she signed up for.
Does this seem fair? I have been trying to find a free legal advice clinic in my area, but all are currently closed to new enquiries. I am not particularly keen to take this any further, but am unfamiliar with the next steps and how likely we are to be successful with a claim of this nature. Many thanks in advance
When she enrolled, she informed them in the paperwork she has autism and needs extra clarification with instructions. We raised a complaint as they have not been providing this adjustment (and others requested at later dates) - e.g. the trainer telling her to speed up but being unable to give instructions as to how, leading to her being told to pay a fee to extend the course as she is too slow for assessment.
Numerous other incidents have occurred, including the Director completely ignoring questions sent via email (even when my partner stated she is asking due to her autism) - either replying without acknowledging the questions, or not replying at all. The training school have continuously made calls to her phone, when they have been told multiple times to contact me as she cannot make phone calls due to her autism. The director has also continually taken a very long time (sometimes over a month) to respond to emails despite multiple follow ups, and has generally lacked competency in basic email tasks that would help provide extra support (e.g. repeatedly not understanding how to CC in other staff to emails so they can provide support).
Now, after a couple of months since our initial complaint, she has denied all claims (even though some are evidenced in the same email chain), but has finally agreed to provide a refund and wants us to provide the figure. My partner cannot use any of this training towards a qualification elsewhere, she will need to pay the full £5000 again at a different training school. I would therefore like to ask for the full amount, with the understanding that although they have used time and resources during the ~60% of the training hours she has undertaken, she has been set back a year in her career by their failure to adhere to their legal obligations under the Equality Act, and so should not also have to be out of pocket to gain the qualification she signed up for.
Does this seem fair? I have been trying to find a free legal advice clinic in my area, but all are currently closed to new enquiries. I am not particularly keen to take this any further, but am unfamiliar with the next steps and how likely we are to be successful with a claim of this nature. Many thanks in advance