Complaints about schools in England

School complaints procedure

All school governing bodies should have a procedure to deal with complaints about all aspects of the school and any community facilities or services that the school provides. The procedure must be publicised, local authority (LA) maintained schools must publish this online. Academy trusts must provide it on request and are expected to publish it online.

The school’s complaints procedure will explain what is covered by their complaints policy, e.g. bullying or bad behaviour.

The Department for Eduaction​​​ (DfE)’s Governance Handbook section 6.16 sets out the requirements for schools in detail. Full guidance on making a complaint about a school

Although the Department of Education cannot deal with individual complaints about private schools it can arrange an emergency inspection if it fails to meet any of the regulatory standards.

Complaining to Ofsted

Ofsted cannot respond to or resolve individual complaints but it is possible to  tell  Ofsted about a problem with a school. They can use this information to decide when to inspect and what areas to focus the inspection on.

Ofsted could take a range of actions from no further action to an immediate inspection of the school, see Complaints to Ofsted about schools (PDF).

School admission app​eals

The School Admissions Appeal Code details statutory guidance about the appeal process.

There are special rules on appeals about admission to some infant (reception, year 1 and year 2) classes which are outlined in Section 4 of the Code. ‘Infant class size’ appeals can only be upheld in very limited circumstances.

Section 5 of the Code describes possible further avenues for appeals and complaints where parents are unhappy with the outcome of an appeal.

The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO)

A constituent can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman if they believe that the

“… a place at a school was refused because of a mistake by the admissions authority, or if… [the] appeal was handled incorrectly….or if the appeal hearing has not been heard in the required time.”

The Ombudsman is not another level of appeal and cannot question decisions if they were taken properly and fairly by the admissions authority or the appeal panel. The LGO website provides information about making complaints in relation to school admissions.

The Local Government Ombudsman can only consider complaints about admission to maintained schools and possibly academies that have converted from maintained schools during the admission process. Complaints about academies and free schools have to be made to the ESFA.

The Sc​​hools Adjudicator

The Schools Adjudicator decides on objections to published admission arrangements of all state-funded schools and variations of determined admission arrangements for maintained schools. Further​​​ Information is available on the Office of the Schools Adjudicator website.

Exclusions

A child can be excluded fro​​​m school if they misbehave inside or outside of school.

If a child is excluded from school the parents or carers can challenge the exclusion, see School discipline and exclusions – challenging exclusion.

For exclusions lasting longer than 5 days the local council must arrange alternative full-time education.  If it is not arranged within 5 days or if the parents or child are unhappy with the alternative education provision they can complain to the school for fixed term exclusions (suspensions) or to the local council for permanent exclusions.

If the parents or child are unhappy with the outcome they can complain to the Department for Education.

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

Complaints about Special Educa​​tional Needs provision follow a different procedure, see  Complain about a​ school or childminder – Special Educational Needs. 

Discrimination

If a constituent believes the school has dis​​criminated against their child because of their disability they can appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability tribunal. 

If the tribunal will not hear the complaint​​​, they can complain to the school using their normal complaints procedure. If that is not successful they can complain to the Department for Education. 

Sources of advice for SEND complaints

• Independent Parental Special Education Advice​ (IPSEA) 
• SOS!SEN 
• Childrens’s Legal Centre 
• Equality Advisory Service 
• There are independent advice services (IAS) for SEND in every LA in England Find your local IAS service (councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk) 
• Local Parent Carer Forum’s Find/ Join Your Local Forum – National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C (nnpcf.org.uk) 

This article is about England, for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland please see complaints about schools in the devolved administrations.

Disclaimer

The Commons Library does not intend the information in this article to address the specific circumstances of any particular individual. We have published it to support the work of MPs. You should not rely upon it as legal or professional advice, or as a substitute for it. We do not accept any liability whatsoever for any errors, omissions or misstatements contained herein. You should consult a suitably qualified professional if you require specific advice or information. Read our briefing for information about sources of legal advice and help.