Education and Child Matters

I AM L.I.P

I am a Litigant In Person

Complaining To And About UK Education Establishments & The Local Authority

 

This webpage will go into detail about how to complain to and about the following:

  1. How to complain about something that has happened at a state maintained school, free school or an academy.
  2. How to complain about something that has happened at an independent school (A private school).
  3. How to complain about a schools SEN support department (Special educational needs department).
  4. How to complain about disability discrimination in a school.
  5. How to complain about your local authority with regards to your child’s education.
  6. How to complain about something that has happened at a University 

Before you read this webpage please note the following points:

1) Never be shy to complain about something you are not happy about or appeal a decision which you feel is incorrect. 

2) We are all very lucky in the UK that there are many complaint procedures that have been put in place for you. In this Help Guide we will guide you through as many of these procedures, explaining how to complain and who to contact first. 

 

HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAS HAPPENED AT A STATE MAINTAINED, FREE SCHOOL OR AN ACADEMY.

Possible complaints to the state school could be:

  1. You can complain about the quality of education being provided.
  2. You can complain about a teacher.
  3. You can complain about bullying.
  4. You can complain about the provisions for a special education needs child.

The state schools complaints procedure:

  1. The school will have a complaints policy outlining the whole procedure and the stages for complaining. You will find the school’s complaints policy on their website or you can ask a member of staff for the policy in writing.
  2. The first stage of a complaint to a school is to make an informal complaint by emailing or calling the school and arranging an appointment with your child’s form tutor, year head or another appropriate member of staff. 
  3. At the appointment explain your concerns in detail. 
  4. The form tutor or year head should make notes about your conversation. They will send you minutes of your meeting via email a few days after your meeting. The teacher will discuss the next steps, what they can and will do, and who they will contact. They will also arrange the date and time of the next meeting to give you an update.
  5. At the next meeting the teacher should outline everything they have done and what progress has been made about your complaint. If you are happy then your complaint will be closed. If you are not happy, your complaint will now be accelerated to the next stage.  
  6. The second stage will be that you will need to make a formal complaint to a senior member of staff or the head teacher. They will look into your complaint and either call you in for a meeting or send you a letter/email outlining their investigation and decision about your case.
  7. If you are not happy with the decision of the headteacher/senior member of staff you can now escalate your complaint to the third stage. This usually involves completing a form and writing a statement which will go to the school governors or the trust.
  8. The school governors or trust will look into your complaint and reply to you within the time frame set in the school complaints policy.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the state school, who do you contact next?

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school or if you feel the school is stopping you from complaining, you can complain directly to the department of education. Please note the department of education cannot deal with fixed penalty notices (fines for taking holidays in term time), a lack of apology from the school or behaviour of school staff.

LINK TO THE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

LINK TO CONTACT THE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR SCHOOL COMPLAINTS FORM TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about your child’s data protection you must contact the information commissioner’s office.

LINK TO INFORMATION COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about exam malpractice or maladministration (key stage 1 and 2) then you can complain to the standards and testing agency.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR STANDARDS AND TESTING AGENCY

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about exam malpractice or maladministration (secondary school) you can contact Ofqual.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR OFQUAL.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about discrimination, you can contact the equality advisory and support service.

LINK TO THE EQUALITY ADVISORY AND SUPPORT SERVICE

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about a child protection issue, you can contact your local authority.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO FIND YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school you can contact Ofsted. They will not investigate or consider any complaint regarding an individual child, admissions, exclusions, special educational needs, religious education but they will record the complaint. Ofsted usually focus on complaints that affect the whole school. But they may take your complaint into consideration when they visit the school. You can complain to Ofsted about extremism. Once your complaint is received Ofsted will review your complaint within 30 days. They could talk about your complaint when they next visit the school or refer your complaint to another body or organisation. 

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR COMPLAIN ABOUT A SCHOOL TO OFSTED

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about teacher misconduct, you can contact the teacher regulation agency (TRA)

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR REPORT TEACHER MISCONDUCT

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR TEACHER MISCONDUCT – REFERRAL FORM.

Exceptions where you can contact other bodies first

If you feel at any time your child is in danger or there is criminal behaviour at school, you can contact the police.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO CONTACT THE POLICE 

If you feel that there has been child abuse at school, you can contact your local authority or the police.

LINK TO GOVERMENT WEBSITE TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE TO YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL. 

Any useful links we can give you –

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR COMPLAIN ABOUT A SCHOOL

 

HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAS HAPPENED AT A INDEPENDENT SCHOOL (PRIVATE SCHOOL)

Possible complaints to the private school could be:

  1. You can complain about the quality of education being provided.
  2. You can complain about a teacher.
  3. You can complain about bullying.
  4. You can complain about the provisions for a special education needs child.

The private schools complaints procedure:

The school will have a complaints policy outlining the whole procedure and the stages for complaining. You will find the school’s complaints policy on their website or you can ask a member of staff for the policy in writing.

Follow the stages and procedure exactly as recommended. The school and their board will reply to you within the timeframe suggested in their complaint policy. 

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the private school, who do you contact next?

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school, you now cannot complain to the department of education because they do not deal with private complaints about individual issues from private schools. However, you can complain to them about education, not informing parents, staff, premises, student health and safety, student welfare, the social, cultural and spiritual development of students. The department of education can ask the schools inspectorate to look into a complaint when they next inspect the school. 

LINK TO THE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

LINK TO CONTACT THE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR SCHOOL COMPLAINTS FORM TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about your child’s data protection, you must contact the information commissioner’s office.

LINK TO INFORMATION COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about exam malpractice or maladministration (key stage 1 and 2), then you can complain to the standards and testing agency.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR STANDARDS AND TESTING AGENCY

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about exam malpractice or maladministration (secondary school), you can contact Ofqual.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR OFQUAL.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about discrimination, you can contact the equality advisory and support service.

LINK TO THE EQUALITY ADVISORY AND SUPPORT SERVICE

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about a child protection issue, you can contact your local authority.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO FIND YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about teacher misconduct, you can contact the teacher regulation agency (TRA)

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR REPORT TEACHER MISCONDUCT

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR TEACHER MISCONDUCT – REFERRAL FORM.

Exceptions where you can contact other bodies first

If you feel at any time your child is in danger or there is criminal behaviour at school, you can contact the police.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO CONTACT THE POLICE 

If you feel that there has been child abuse at school, you can contact your local authority or the police.

LINK TO GOVERMENT WEBSITE TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE TO YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL. 

Any useful links we can give you –

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT A PRIVATE SCHOOL

 

HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT A SCHOOLS SEN SUPPORT (SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS SUPPORT) 

Possible complaints about the school SEN support department could be:

  1. The provisions provided by the school are not appropriate
  2. The school has not taken the child’s education, health and care plan into consideration.
  3. Your child feels discriminated against.

The complaints procedure about a schools SEN support department:

  1. The school should have a SEN information report. This report will outline the whole procedure and the stages how to complain to and about the schools SEN department. You may find the school’s SEN information report on their website or you can ask a member of staff for the policy in writing. Follow the stages and procedure exactly as recommended. The school and their board will reply to you within the timeframe suggested in their complaint policy. 
  2. The first stage of a complaint to a school is to make an informal complaint by emailing or calling the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) at the school and making an appointment. If the school does not have a SENCO then you should contact your child’s form tutor or year head.
  3. At the appointment explain your concerns in detail. 
  4. The SENCO or your child’s form tutor/year head should make notes about your conversation. They will send you minutes of your meeting via email a few days after your meeting. The SENCO or your child’s form tutor/year head will discuss the next steps, what they can and will do, and who they will contact. They will also arrange the date and time of the next meeting to give you an update.
  5. At the next meeting the SENCO or your child’s form tutor/year head should outline everything they have done and what progress has been made about your complaint. If you are happy then your complaint will be closed. If you are not happy, your complaint will now be accelerated to the next stage.  
  6. The second stage will be that you will need to make a formal complaint to a senior member of staff or the head teacher. They will look into your complaint and either call you in for a meeting or send you a letter/email outlining their investigation and decision about your case.
  7. If you are not happy with the decision of the headteacher/senior member of staff you can now escalate your complaint to the third stage. This usually involves completing a form and writing a statement which will go to the school governors or the trust.
  8. The school governors or trust will look into your complaint and reply to you within the time frame set in the school complaints policy.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint about the school sen support, who do you contact next?

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school about the SEN department, you can contact your local authority. They may offer you a disagreement resolution service. 

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO FIND YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school and local authority about the SEN department, you can contact the department of education. They can ask the school to take action. The department of education will only take complaints about certain types of school. Please ask your school if they are the type of school where you can complain to the department of education. 

LINK TO THE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

LINK TO CONTACT THE GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR SCHOOL COMPLAINTS FORM TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school and local authority about the SEN department, you can contact the education and skills funding agency (ESFA) if your child attends an academy or free school.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR COMPLAINING TO THE ESFA

Exceptions where you can contact other bodies first

If you feel at any time your child is in danger or there is criminal behaviour at school, you can contact the police.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO CONTACT THE POLICE 

If you feel that there has been child abuse at school, you can contact your local authority or the police.

LINK TO GOVERMENT WEBSITE TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE TO YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL. 

Any useful links we can give you –

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR COMPLAIN ABOUT A SCHOOL – SEN 

 

HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION IN SCHOOL

Possible complaints about disability discrimination to a school could be:

  1. The school has not provided the provisions, aids, and equipment needed and required.
  2. The school is not adequately supporting the child.
  3. The school is treating the child unfavourably.
  4. The school is excluding the child from activities
  5. The school is not enrolling the child due to their disability
  6. The child feels harassed at school
  7. The child feels victimised at school.

The complaints procedure for disability discrimination in a school:

  1. The school will have a complaint policy or a SEN information report and it will outline how to complain about disability discrimination. This complaint policy will detail the whole procedure and the stages of how to complain to and about disability discrimination. You may find the school’s complaints policy on their website or you can ask a member of staff for the policy in writing. Follow the stages and procedure exactly as recommended. The school and their board will reply to you within the timeframe suggested in their complaint policy. 
  2. The first stage of a complaint to a school is to make an informal complaint by emailing or calling the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) at the school and making an appointment. If they do not deal with disability or the school does not have a SENCO then speak to your child’s form tutor or year head. 
  3. At the appointment explain your concerns in detail. 
  4. The SENCO or your child’s form tutor/year head should make notes about your conversation. They will send you minutes of your meeting via email a few days after your meeting. The SENCO or your child’s form tutor/year head will discuss the next steps, what they can and will do, and who they will contact. They will also arrange the date and time of the next meeting to give you an update.
  5. At the next meeting the SENCO or your child’s form tutor/year head should outline everything they have done and what progress has been made about your complaint. If you are happy then your complaint will be closed. If you are not happy, your complaint will now be accelerated to the next stage.  
  6. The second stage will be that you will need to make a formal complaint to a senior member of staff or the head teacher. They will look into your complaint and either call you in for a meeting or send you a letter/email outlining their investigation and decision about your case.
  7. If you are not happy with the decision of the headteacher/senior member of staff you can now escalate your complaint to the third stage. This usually involves completing a form and writing a statement which will go to the school governors or the trust.
  8. The school governors or trust will look into your complaint and reply to you within the time frame set in the school complaints policy.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint about disability discrimination to a school, who do you contact next?

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the school, you can complain to the special educational needs and disability tribunal (SEND TRIBUNAL). Their contact details are 

Email – sendistqueries@justice.gov.uk

Tel – 0300 303 5857 

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE COMPLAIN ABOUT A SCHOOL – DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION 

You can make a disability discrimination claim through the First Tier Tribunal (SEND). This type of claim must be made within 6 months of the incident that happened. It is completely free.

The SEND Tribunal is a national organisation that deals with disability discrimination cases against schools and also appeals against Local authority’s decisions about a child’s education, health and care plan (EHC plan) and the needs assessment of a child.

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS & DISABILITIES – EHC Plan.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR FIRST TIER TRIBUNAL (SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS & DISABILITY)

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR HOW TO APPEAL A SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS DECISION – SEND 37 

Exceptions where you can contact other bodies first

If you feel at any time your child is in danger or there is criminal behaviour at school you can contact the police.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO CONTACT THE POLICE 

If you feel that there has been child abuse at school, you can contact your local authority or the police.

LINK TO GOVERMENT WEBSITE TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE TO YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL. 

Any useful links we can give you –

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR DISABILITY RIGHTS

 

HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY WITH REGARDS TO YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATION. 

Possible complaints about your local authority could be:

  1. Your local authority has let down a child with special educational needs
  2. Your local authority did not conduct an EHC needs assessment or there was a delay in assessing a child’s SEND needs.
  3. Your local authority did not conduct an education health and care plan (EHC plan)
  4. Your local authority has not provided adequate support for a child with disability or medical needs.
  5. The local offer.
  6. Your local authority’s response about the school not providing SEN support.
  7. A young person has not been included in the decisions made about their sen support.
  8. There has been no annual review
  9. The SEND code of practice has not been followed.

The complaints procedure:

Your local authority will have their complaints procedure outlined in the complaints policy on their website. There will usually be a form to complete and send in via email, post or hand deliver. Your local authorities’ complaints policy will outline how they will handle your complaint. Usually your complaint form will first be dealt with by your local authorities customer relations team who will decide whether they can resolve your complaint by themselves. If they feel they cannot and your complaint needs further investigation they will give your complaint a reference number and deal with it as a formal complaint.

Stage 1 of a formal complaint will be dealt with by a senior member or the head  of the local authority service department. You will receive a reply within 15 – 20 working days. If you’re not happy with their reply you can escalate your complaint to stage 2.

Stage 2 will require you to request a review of your complaint and reply to you within 15 – 20 working days. 

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint about your local authority, who do you contact next?

If you are not happy with the outcome of stage 2 of your complaint, you can complain to your local government and social care ombudsman. This is a free service. They will investigate your complaint about your local authority and decide if your local authority has dealt with your compliant in the correct manner and made the right decisions. 

LINK TO WEBSITE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL CARE OMBUDSMAN

Their contact details are 

Email – sendistqueries@justice.gov.uk

Tel – 0300 303 5857 

The SEND Tribunal is a national organisation that deals with appeals against Local authority’s decisions about a child’s education, health and care plan (EHC plan) and the needs assessment of a child.

LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS & DISABILITIES – EHC Plan.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR FIRST TIER TRIBUNAL (SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS & DISABILITY)

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR HOW TO APPEAL A SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS DECISION – SEND 37 

Exceptions where you can contact other bodies first

If you feel at any time your child is in danger or there is criminal behaviour at school, you can contact the police.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO CONTACT THE POLICE 

Any useful links we can give you –

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO FIND YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE FOR GUIDE – WORKING TOGETHER TO SAFEGUARD CHILDREN

 

HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAS HAPPENED AT A UNIVERSITY 

Possible complaints to the university could be

  1. Inadequate accommodation. 
  2. Quality of teaching
  3. Sexual harassment

The university complaints procedure:

  1. The first step is to contact the university itself and make a complaint. Your university will have the complaints procedure detailed in the complaints policy on their website. If they do not you can go to the main university office and get a copy.
  2. You can also bring up an issue you have with your students union or your tutor if you have been allocated one.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint to the university, who do you contact next?

If you are not happy with the outcome once you have complained to your university, you can contact the OIA about your complaint.

LINK TO THE OFFICE OF THE INDEPENDENT ADJUDICATOR FOR HIGHER EDUCATION (OIA) 

Exceptions where you can contact other bodies first

If you feel at any time your child is in danger or there is criminal behaviour at school, you can contact the police.

LINK TO GOVERNMENT WEBSITE TO CONTACT THE POLICE 

If you feel that there has been child abuse at school, you can contact your local authority or the police.

LINK TO GOVERMENT WEBSITE TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE TO YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL. 

Any useful links we can give you –

LINK TO WEBSITE FOR OFFICE FOR STUDENTS – COMPLAINTS