Complaints
The process
If you feel you are not receiving the right level of support and/or service from a professional, who is working with yourself and/or your child, you have the right to make a formal complaint.Â
Each service has its own complaint process. We would advise you to look over the complaint process for the individual service which can be found on their website.
School complaints
The first step is to talk to the teacher. If you need to discuss things further, you can speak to the Head Teacher or to the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo).
We would advise that you ask for a meeting at the setting to discuss your concerns, it is a good idea to keep notes or have records of what they have done and have told you.
If you have tried to resolve disagreements informally and you feel that this hasn’t been enough then you need to start the formal complaints process. To do this you need to follow their complaints procedure as detailed on their website. If it’s not on the website, request it directly from the school office.
- For Local Authority maintained school – we would advise you to follow the school’s complaint process. However, if you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you have the right to escalate the complaint further to the Local Authority.
- For Academy schools, we would advise you to follow their complaints procedure. However, if you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your complaint you can escalate this further with the Educational Skills Funding Agency and then the Secretary of State.
- For an independent nursery and/or school, we would advise you to follow their complaints process. However, if you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your complaint you can escalate this further to Ofsted.
Governors/Academy Trust) and feel you still haven’t had a suitable response, then you can escalate it further: You can complain to the Department for Education (DfE) directly if:
- A child is at risk.
- A child is missing school.
- The school is stopping you from following its complaints procedure.
Ofsted cannot respond to or resolve individual complaints, but you can still tell Ofsted about a problem with a school. They can use the information you provide to decide when to inspect and what areas to focus the inspection on.
Alternatively, if your concerns relate to disability discrimination, you may be able to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal: Special Educational Needs and Disability.
If your complaint is about an allegation of abuse at the educational setting you can contact Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).
Local Authority complaints
The first step is to talk to the relevant LA representative. We would advise that you ask for a meeting at the setting to discuss your concerns. It is a good idea to keep notes or have records of what they have done and have told you.
If you are unhappy with a service provided by the Local Authority (LA) then you must complain to them directly. You could start by complaining to the Head of Service or Service/Team Manager, following this if you aren’t happy with the response you can complain to the LA ‘Compliments and Complaints’ service.
If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your complaint you can escalate this further to the Local Government Social Care Ombudsman and then to a Judicial Review.
You can find more information on the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman website.Â
Health
Everyone who provides an NHS service must provide their own complaints procedure, this is normally found in waiting rooms or on their website, but if you aren’t able to find it ask the provider for a copy. You can either complain to the service provider directly or to the body that pays for that NHS service, you can only complain to one, not both. You will need to follow the provider procedure as detailed and the complaint should normally be made within 12 months of the incident.
For further help you can contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) as they can provide you with advice and support and may be able to help you rectify the complaint on an informal level. If after trying to resolve the complaint on an informal level you’ve decided to formalise it the Independent NHS Complaints Advocacy Service could support you with the procedure you would need to undertake.
