How to Make a Complaint About a School in England: State, Academy and Free Schools

Every parent in England has the right to raise a concern or make a formal complaint about their child's school. The complaints process exists to ensure that issues are heard, investigated and resolved fairly — and the law requires every state-funded school, whether maintained by a local authority or operating as an academy or free school, to have a published complaints procedure. In practice, however, many parents find the process confusing: the routes differ depending on what type of school is involved, and knowing when and how to escalate beyond the school itself is not always straightforward. This guide explains the complete complaints process, stage by stage, for all types of state-funded school in England.

Which Type of School Are You Complaining About?

Before beginning the complaints process, it is important to establish what type of state-funded school your child attends, as the escalation route after the internal process differs:

• Community schools, voluntary-controlled schools and foundation schools — these are maintained schools, funded and overseen by the local authority
• Voluntary-aided schools (including most faith schools) — maintained schools, but with a greater degree of independence and their own governing board as the admissions authority
• Academies and academy converters — independent of the local authority; funded directly by central government through a funding agreement with the DfE; operated by an academy trust
• Free schools — a type of academy; set up by groups of parents, charities, businesses or faith organisations; funded and regulated in the same way as academies
• Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) — groups of academies operated by a single trust; the MAT's complaints procedure may cover all schools within the trust

You can check what type of school your child's school is by searching for it on the DfE's Get Information About Schools (GIAS) service at get-information-schools.service.gov.uk.

Stage 1: Informal Resolution

Before invoking a formal complaints process, you should first attempt to resolve the issue informally. Most schools expect this as a first step, and many concerns are resolved quickly through a conversation with the right member of staff.

Depending on the nature of the issue, the appropriate first contact is usually:

• The class teacher — for concerns about classroom learning, homework, peer relationships or day-to-day matters
• The head of year or form tutor — for concerns about pastoral care, social issues or secondary school matters involving multiple teachers
• The SENCO — for concerns relating to special educational needs provision
• The headteacher — for concerns that are more serious or that have not been resolved at a lower level

Contact can be by email, telephone or in person at a scheduled meeting. Even at this informal stage, keep written notes — record the date, who you spoke to, what was discussed and what (if anything) was agreed. These notes will be useful if the matter escalates.

If the informal approach does not resolve the issue, or if the nature of the complaint is serious enough that informal resolution is not appropriate, move to the formal procedure.

Stage 2: Formal Written Complaint

If informal resolution fails, you must invoke the school's formal complaints procedure. The starting point is to find the school's Complaints Policy — this must be published on the school's website. Download or request a copy and read it carefully before submitting anything in writing.

How to Submit a Formal Complaint

Submit your complaint in writing — either by letter or by email. Address it to the Headteacher. If your complaint is specifically about the headteacher's own conduct or decision, it should instead be addressed to the Clerk to the Governing Board (or, in an academy, the Clerk to the Trust Board).

Clearly mark your correspondence as a Formal Complaint. Your letter or email should set out:

• The specific nature of your complaint — what happened, on what date(s), and who was involved
• Any steps you have already taken to raise the matter informally, and what response (if any) you received
• What outcome or resolution you are seeking
• Any relevant evidence you wish to attach (copies of emails, letters, notes of conversations)

The school's policy will set out the timescales for its response — typically acknowledging receipt within 5 school days and providing a substantive response within 15–20 school days. If the school does not respond within its stated timescale, write again drawing attention to the delay and asking for an immediate update.

What Happens Next

The headteacher (or their nominated investigator) will investigate the complaint, which may involve speaking to relevant staff members, reviewing relevant documents and, in some cases, speaking to the pupil. You should receive a formal written response setting out what was found and what action (if any) will be taken.

If you are dissatisfied with the Stage 2 response, or if the school has failed to respond within its policy timescale, you can escalate to Stage 3.

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Stage 3: Governor Review Panel (Complaints Appeal Panel)

If you remain dissatisfied after the Stage 2 formal response, you have the right to have your complaint considered by a Complaints Appeal Panel (sometimes called a Governor Review Panel or Stage 3 Panel).

Write to the Clerk to the Governing Board (for a maintained school or a single academy) or to the Clerk to the Trust (for a Multi-Academy Trust) requesting that your complaint be escalated to a panel hearing. Send a copy of your original complaint, the school's formal response, and any further evidence you wish the panel to consider.

How the Panel Works

The panel must consist of at least three people who have had no prior direct involvement in the matters complained about. The DfE's model complaints policy requires that at least one panel member is independent of the management and running of the school — that is, not a current governor, staff member or employee of the school or trust.

For academies within Multi-Academy Trusts, panels may include local governors from a different school within the same trust, provided those governors have had no direct involvement in the specific complaint.

The hearing process typically involves:

• Both parties submitting written evidence in advance
• The complainant attending the hearing and presenting their case (you may bring a companion — a friend, family member or support worker — to assist you)
• The school presenting its position
• The panel asking questions of both parties
• The panel deliberating privately and issuing a written decision, usually within 5 school days of the hearing

The panel can uphold the complaint (in whole or in part), dismiss it, or make recommendations to the school to prevent recurrence. The panel's decision is the school's final internal position on the matter.

After the School's Procedure Is Exhausted: External Escalation

Once the Stage 3 panel has issued its decision, the school's internal complaints process is complete. If you are still dissatisfied, the route for external escalation depends on whether the school is a maintained school or an academy/free school.

For Academies and Free Schools: Escalation to the DfE

Academies and free schools are regulated by the Department for Education through a funding agreement. After exhausting the internal process, you can raise your complaint with the DfE via its Customer Help Portal (available at education.gov.uk/help/contactus).

It is essential to understand what the DfE will and will not do:

• The DfE will check whether the academy followed its own published complaints procedure correctly, whether it acted in accordance with its funding agreement, and whether there is evidence of unlawful action or a serious breach of the academy's legal obligations
• The DfE will NOT act as an appeal court on the substance of the complaint — it will not re-examine whether the school's decision was right or wrong on the merits, or order the school to reverse a pastoral or disciplinary decision

For Local Authority Maintained Schools: Escalation to the LA and DfE

For maintained schools, after exhausting the school's internal procedure, you may raise your concerns with the local authority, which has a supervisory role over maintained schools in its area. The local authority can examine whether the governing body has complied with its statutory responsibilities and governance duties — but like the DfE, it cannot override operational school decisions.

You can also raise your complaint with the Secretary of State for Education via the DfE. The Secretary of State has powers to intervene where a governing body has acted unreasonably or failed to carry out a legal duty, but again this is a regulatory check, not an appeal on the merits of the complaint.

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Where the Ombudsman Fits In

A common misconception is that the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) can investigate school complaints. In most cases, this is not correct. The LGSCO investigates complaints about local councils and some other public bodies — but it does not have jurisdiction over the internal management, teaching or operational decisions of individual schools, whether maintained or academy.

The LGSCO may be relevant in the following limited circumstances:

• Where the complaint relates to a failure by the local authority itself in carrying out a statutory duty — for example, a failure to properly administer school admissions appeals, or a failure to secure an EHC plan assessment within statutory timescales
• Where the local authority has maladministered a formal statutory exclusion review process

If you believe the DfE or another government department has maladministered the handling of your escalated complaint, you may — as a last resort and via your Member of Parliament — refer the matter to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The PHSO investigates complaints about government departments and agencies, not schools themselves.

Complaints That Use a Different Process

Several types of school-related disputes are handled through their own separate statutory processes and should NOT be pursued through the standard school complaints procedure:

Practical Tips for Effective Complaints

• Keep meticulous records. Date every piece of correspondence, keep copies of everything you send and receive, and note the date, time and content of any telephone or in-person conversations
• Be specific. A complaint that clearly states what happened, when, who was involved and what outcome you are seeking is far more likely to be investigated effectively than a general expression of dissatisfaction
• Follow the school's timescales. If the school fails to respond within its policy timescale, write again drawing attention to the delay — and note this in any subsequent external escalation
• Stay focused on the issues. Complaints that become personal attacks on individual staff members or that conflate multiple separate issues are harder to resolve and less likely to produce the outcome you want
• Know what outcome you want. Be clear in your own mind about what a satisfactory resolution looks like — an apology, a change in practice, a review of a decision. Stating this clearly helps the school understand what it needs to do to resolve the matter
• Consider seeking advice. Organisations such as the Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) and the Independent Parental Special Education Advice (IPSEA) provide free guidance to parents navigating school complaints, particularly in relation to SEND

For further context on how governing bodies work and your rights as a parent in school governance, see our article on PTAs and school governors: how parents can get involved in school life. For complaints specifically about exclusions, see our guide to school exclusions in England: parent rights and the appeal process.

Frequently Asked Questions