UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed to operating a responsive, transparent and fair complaints process. We follow the Public Service Ombudsman UK Central Government Complaint Standards.
Use our complaints procedure when:
- we have not followed agreed policies, procedures or legal obligations
- a UKRI employee has been unhelpful or insensitive in their dealings with you
- we have not responded or have taken an unreasonable amount of time to answer a query or request
You cannot use this procedure if the issue you want to complain about is subject to legal proceedings.
Complaints about the decisions made by organisations we fund should be directed to the organisation in question.
If you disagree with a UKRI decision, peer review or assessor comments, or application feedback
Decisions made by the UKRI Board, our councils, committees or panels, including decisions on funding applications, are final and cannot be appealed.
Read about how UKRI makes decisions, and refer to the assessment section of the funding opportunity you are applying for.
How to complain
Step one: try to resolve the issue directly
You should make your initial complaint directly to the council, employee or team you have been dealing with.
For complaints relating to Innovate UK, email support@iuk.ukri.org
For complaints relating to the Innovate UK Business Growth service, or for advice on how to complain about one of their partner organisations, email businessgrowth@iuk.ukri.org
See Innovate UK Business Growth’s complaints procedure (PDF, 96KB) for further information.
If the relevant UKRI team cannot resolve your complaint, you can make a formal complaint.
Step two: make a formal complaint
If your complaint has not been resolved in step one, you can make a formal complaint either by:
- our online form
- post
Address for complaints by post:
UKRI Complaints Team
UK Research and Innovation
Polaris House
North Star Avenue
Swindon
SN2 1FL
We can only discuss issues relating to an Innovate UK application with the lead applicant and contact listed in the application.
When to use a different procedure
If you are a UKRI employee and you want to raise a grievance, follow the grievance procedure.
If you want to make a complaint anonymously, follow the whistleblowing procedure.
If your concern relates to research conduct, refer to the good research conduct policy.
How we will handle your complaint
You will receive an auto-acknowledgement email from our system confirming your complaint has been successfully submitted. We will contact you within five working days of your submission to advise on next steps.
The Complaints team will assess your complaint to determine whether it is within the scope of our procedure and how best we can address the issue.
We will contact you if we need any additional information.
Where complaints fall outside the scope of our formal complaints procedure, we will direct you to the correct procedure.
In most cases, we will provide a full response to formal complaints within 20 working days. If it is not possible to provide a full response within this time, we will give you:
- details of the progress we have made and the reason for the delay
- a target date for when we are aiming to respond to your complaint
How to appeal
If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to appeal within one calendar month of the date we responded to your complaint.
You should write to us again following the procedure outlined in step two. You must state that your complaint relates to a previous case and provide your reference number.
Explain clearly where our complaint investigation:
- has not been satisfactory
- has incorrectly or has not fully investigated your original issues
- has provided incorrect information
If you have any new or supporting evidence, provide this and tell us how you would like us to resolve things.
We will assess your concerns to decide if there is a rationale to review these outstanding issues. If we do not agree, we will explain why.
If we agree that there is a rationale to review outstanding issues, we will assign a senior, independent employee to conduct the review. This person will not have any prior knowledge or involvement in the previous complaint.
We will aim to respond to your appeal within 45 working days using the same process as the standard complaints process.
If you are still not satisfied with the decision, you can refer your complaint to the Public Service Ombudsman via an MP.
Unresolved issues related to the Welsh Language Scheme can be escalated to the Welsh Language Commissioner.
How UKRI will use your personal data
The personal data you give us will be used to help us investigate and respond to your complaint.
Your personal data will be handled in line with UK data protection legislation and managed securely. If you would like to know more, including how to exercise your rights, see our privacy notice.
Reasonable adjustments
UKRI is committed to promoting equality and to ensuring our complaint handling process is fair and accessible to all users.
Email complaints@ukri.org to request reasonable adjustments.
Last updated: 30 October 2026