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In some circumstances, it can currently take up to 4.5 months to conduct an initial assessment for some complaints, particularly if they are complex. We are doing everything we can to reduce this time. You can find average timescales for each stage of complaint handling across all types of complaints here.

Running an appointment round

We provide guidance for our Public Appointments Advisers and for people running appointments rounds or sitting on selection panels.

The Code of Practice includes guidelines for panels to follow when running an appointment round. It does not specify how roles should be advertised or how applicants should be assessed. The Code is flexible. This gives panels the scope and the opportunity to tailor the methods they use to attract and assess applicants. The methods used should be designed to attract and assess the target pool of applicants every time an appointment round is run. 

To help panels achieve this, we provide guidance about current good practice in recruitment and selection. This includes training for PAAs and one to one briefings for new selection panel chairs. We also provide a range of materials to assist. These include:

Good practice advice

You can contact us for good practice advice at any time. There are also good practice case studies that describe the approaches taken on previous appointment rounds.

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