This article is based on the DfE's complaints guidance for maintained schools and academies.
Identify a serial or persistent complaint
Most complaints raised will be valid and should be treated seriously. However, a complaint may be considered unreasonable if:
- The person has made the same complaint before, and it’s been resolved by following the school’s complaints policy
- A complaint is obsessive, persistent, harassing, prolific or repetitive
- The person insists on pursuing an unfounded complaint, beyond all reason
- The person pursues unrealistic outcomes, beyond all reason
- The person pursues a valid complaint, but in an unreasonable manner
- A complaint is designed to cause disruption and/or annoyance
- The person demands a solution that lacks any serious purpose or value
You should only categorise the complaint itself as being persistent or unreasonable, not the person making it. They may make valid complaints in the future, which you’ll need to treat fairly.
Your senior leaders might take informal steps first
Your headteacher should try to resolve complaints informally first, as careful communication with parents/carers can stop the flow of complaints and prevent aggressive behaviour.
They might set up a face-to-face meeting with the complainant and senior leaders. To help resolve the issue, they might ask the following people to also be present:
- The chair of governors, to demonstrate they're taking the issue seriously
- A member of staff familiar to the parent/carer or child, such as a form teacher, to help create a relaxed and sympathetic environment
- Someone external, such as a governor or staff member from a nearby school, to act as an unbiased mediator
This advice came from a representative of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).
Follow your complaints procedure
If complaints continue even after your has school has tried to resolve them informally, you'll need to begin a formal complaints procedure and encourage complainants to do the same.
Both maintained schools and academies must have a complaints procedure, drawn up in writing.
If the complaints procedure doesn’t set out how to deal with persistent and unreasonable complaints, your senior leaders may want to review the policy and add some guidelines. They can use the wording in our model complaints policy as a starting point.
If the policy doesn’t explain what to do about persistent and unreasonable complaints, and your school finds itself in this situation, seek legal advice.
Take all ‘reasonable steps’
It’s important to treat all complaints fairly even if you think they're unfounded. Remember – following the procedure doesn't mean you're condoning a complaint.
Take every reasonable step to address the complainant’s concerns, and give them a clear statement of your school's position and their options. Try to maintain your role as an objective arbiter throughout the process. Be especially careful to remain impartial if you meet with individuals in relation to their complaint.
How to close complaints and stop responding
Once your school has followed all the stages of its complaints procedure, your chair of governors can tell the complainant that the matter is closed.
You can decide not to respond to persistent complaints. However, the DfE guidance for both maintained schools and academies explains a school should only stop responding when:
- It has taken all reasonable steps to help the complainant
- It has given the complainant a clear statement of its position and their options
- The complainant contacts the school repeatedly, making the same points each time
It shouldn't stop responding just because an individual is difficult to deal with or asks complex questions. Also, your school still needs to meet its legal obligations in terms of reporting to parents/carers, and responding to legitimate requests for data (e.g. under the Freedom of Information Act).
A case to stop responding is stronger if:
- The complainant’s correspondence is abusive or aggressive
- They insult or threaten school staff
- There's reason to believe their main intention is to cause disruption or inconvenience
If you decide to stop responding, make sure the complainant is informed in writing – this can be a letter or email.
Put a communications strategy in place
For people who persistently contact the school in a disruptive way, talk to your headteacher about limiting their contact. Your school could:
- Give them a single point of contact via an email address
- Limit the number of times they can make contact, such as a fixed number per term
See the DfE's best practice guidance for managing serial and persistent complaints for maintained schools and academies.
However, if the complainant raises a new issue, the complaints procedure must begin again.
Duplicate complaints from different people
After closing a complaint at the end of the complaints procedure, your school may receive a duplicate complaint from a partner, friend or other individual.
Assess whether there are any new aspects to the complaint, or information you didn't know before. If this is the case, follow the complaints procedure as normal.
If there's no new information, your school can:
- Inform the new complainant that it has already considered that complaint and the local process is complete
- Advise the new complainant to contact the DfE if they're dissatisfied with how the school handled the original complaint
Don't allow group complaints
Group complaints can make it more difficult to manage abusive parents/carers or declare complaints closed. Instead, your school should deal with parents’/carers' complaints separately and hold individual meetings.
Make it clear to parents/carers that:
- Their right to complain rests on their position as the parent/carer of an individual pupil
- They cannot raise a complaint on behalf of other pupils/group of pupils
If your school has a parent/carer forum or parent/carer representative, any informal concerns could be raised through them.
Dealing with aggressive parents and carers
Follow your code of conduct
Schools have a duty of care towards their employees. This means that all staff, including the headteacher, shouldn’t be placed in upsetting or dangerous situations. Staff members shouldn’t be expected to respond to abusive communications or to attend meetings where parents/carers are behaving aggressively. As explained above, behaviour like this strengthens the case to stop responding.
Make it clear that meetings will be stopped or cancelled if parents/carers don’t follow the code of conduct outlined the school's complaints procedure.
Remove aggressive complainants
It's a criminal offence to cause or permit a nuisance or disturbance on school premises. This means that complainants can be legally removed from the site if they're acting in an abusive or threatening way at meetings. If you have a school policy on abusive visitors, make sure it's followed.
This is set out in section 547 of the Education Act 1996.
See our article on banning parents from the school site.
Seek support if you need it
If your board is struggling to resolve a complaint impartially, or you're understandably worried about the process, request support from:
- Your local authority governor services team
- Your legal provider, for support with particularly complex cases or any scenario where a complainant has mentioned the possibility of legal action against the school