How to make a complaint about a fitness professional

If something went wrong with a professional you found on REPs, telling us is the right thing to do — for you, and for everyone who might book the same coach next. This is exactly how the complaints process works, what we can act on, and what evidence makes a complaint we can investigate properly.

What we can act on

We can investigate anything that touches the standards we verify: working without current insurance, misrepresenting qualifications, identity issues, safeguarding failures, breaches of the REPs code of conduct (which includes safe practice, scope of practice, and how clients are treated), and refusal to honour clearly written terms.

What we can't act on

We are not a small-claims court and we don't grade coaching style. We can't force a refund on a dispute over results, we can't decide who was right in a personality clash, and we can't intervene in private legal matters. What we can do in those cases is record the complaint, share it with the professional, and make sure it's visible if a pattern emerges.

• Write down what happened, with dates, and stick to facts you can evidence.
• Keep messages, contracts, payment receipts, and any policy documents the professional sent you.
• If safety was involved, note exactly what was said or done, by whom, and where.
• Try to raise it with the professional first in writing — most issues resolve there.
• If it doesn't resolve, submit the complaint to REPs via the complaints page.

What happens after you submit

Every complaint is logged the day it's received and reviewed by a member of the standards team within five working days. The professional is contacted and given the opportunity to respond in writing. Where the complaint touches a verification fact (insurance, qualification, DBS), the badge can be suspended while we investigate. Where it touches conduct, we may ask both sides for further information before deciding.

Possible outcomes

An investigation can end in one of four ways: no case to answer (recorded internally only); informal advice to the professional (recorded, not public); a formal warning with conditions (visible internally, repeat issues escalate); or suspension or removal of Verified status (visible publicly). We publish anonymised outcomes annually so the register's standards stay accountable to the people who rely on it.

"The complaints process is not punishment. It's how a register stays trustworthy."