Guidance

How to make a complaint to United Kingdom Security Vetting

Updated 27 November 2025

Making a complaint

Our complaints process is in place for any concerns about our service or the handling of your security clearance application. We want to hear from you so that we can work together to resolve your concerns. Please be assured that any concerns you share with us will have no impact on the outcome of a vetting decision. We are committed to delivering assured, timely, cost effective vetting. 

We understand that the circumstances surrounding your complaint may be difficult or causing concern. Please visit our Wellbeing support for national security vetting applicants page for additional support.

We appreciate your support throughout this process. Please view our customer charter to understand what you can expect from us and what we expect in return.

What constitutes a complaint

We regard a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction about our action or lack of action or about the standard of service we provide. We will aim to resolve your concerns to your satisfaction within an agreed timescale. When we consider your complaint, we must be mindful of the sensitive nature of the information we handle, and consider the resources available to us.

For example, you can make a complaint about things such as:

• Mistakes you feel we have made that have led to an avoidable delay in your application
• The level of service received
• Concerns about government vetting policy.

There may be some things that you have concerns about that are outside of our control. This may mean we cannot deal with your concerns through our complaints process. Examples of these include:

• A decision to withdraw or refuse clearance
• Matters related to your employment or ongoing Human Resources processes. You should contact your employer directly if you have concerns regarding these
• Concerns or issues that are subject to legal proceedings that have commenced or legal settlements.

The standard of service we aim to provide is set out within our Vetting Charter. If you are unsure if your concerns can be considered as a complaint by UKSV, please contact us at uksv-complaints@cabinetoffice.gov.uk and we will work with you to help with your next steps.

How to make a complaint

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to let us know if you are dissatisfied. UKSV can only consider concerns raised by an applicant or sponsor. We cannot accept complaints from any third parties, this includes Line Managers, referees, work coaches, partners or family members. You can complain by:

• Emailing us directly at uksv-complaints@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
• If your complaint is about mishandling of your personal information, please email our Data Protection and Information Management team at UKSV-data.protection@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. 
• Write to us at:

UKSV Complaints Team
Building 107
Imphal Barracks
York
YO10 4AS

When you contact us, please tell us:

• your full name, address and contact details including phone number
• your date of birth
• if you require any reasonable adjustments
• case ID (if known/relevant)
• sponsor ID (if relevant)
• what happened, when it happened and how it affected you
• what you want to happen to put things right.

What should you expect once you make a complaint?

Complaint registered

If you make a complaint by email, your complaint will be registered automatically. If you complain by letter, once we receive it, it will be passed to the complaints team, who will register the complaint as soon as possible.

Acknowledgement

The complaints team will aim to acknowledge your complaint (or escalated complaint, as explained below) within 2 working days of receiving it.

We will communicate with you by email, but if this isn’t right for you just let us know. This acknowledgement email will usually let you know your complaint has been registered and explain the next steps.

Investigation

We will then carry out a thorough investigation on your behalf.

We take your concerns seriously and through our investigation we aim to establish what has happened and why. This helps us to shape our resolution to your needs.

Occasionally, we may contact you throughout the investigation. This will often be to gather more evidence. This may also be to understand what action you would like us to take in order to resolve your complaint. Your cooperation at this stage is vital and appreciated.

Resolution

Once our investigation is complete, we will then send you our resolution letter (typically by email). We aim to provide this to you within 25 working days of your complaint being received. There may be occasions when we are unable to finalise our resolution letter within 25 working days. If this is the case, we will let you know and explain the reasons why.

We are committed to working with you to resolve your dissatisfaction. Although we cannot always provide you with the resolution you ask for, we will always aim to provide you with solutions and/or options aimed at resolving your concerns.

Once your complaint response is sent to you, your complaint will be closed. However, if you still have concerns, we will be happy to discuss these and clarify anything that you feel is unclear in our response.

Sometimes we can resolve your concerns quickly, and where this is possible our acknowledgement and resolution may be provided to you at the same time. If this is the case, we will explain this to you.

Escalation

We understand that despite our best efforts you may still be dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint. In these instances, you have the option to escalate your complaint. We operate a three stage complaints process:

• Stage 1 – your complaint will be managed by a complaint officer
• Stage 2 – your complaint will be escalated and managed by a manager
• Stage 3 – your complaint will be escalated and managed by a senior manager.

At each of the 3 stages all of the steps above will be followed. Stage 3 will be our final response. 

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your complaint and/or the resolution provided after Stage 3, there may be grounds in which you will have access to independent adjudication. You will be expected to have exhausted our internal complaints process and for your complaint to be unresolved. Our independent adjudicators will assess all information before agreeing to accept any complaints.

Independent Adjudication

In some rare circumstances if your complaint is serious enough and you have legitimate grounds for believing that UKSV will not handle your complaint fairly, UKSV will assign your case to an independent adjudicator to be assessed further.

You must contact UKSV to request your complaint be escalated.

More information on your data and privacy can be found on this link.