How to review your complaints procedures: checklist, model and examples
Use our checklist to review the procedure for your school or trust, and make sure it complies with the law and reflects best practice. Be clear on what questions you can ask, and take a look at our model procedure to see what good looks like.
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Contents
Key statutes, guidance and documents
- Academies:
- Your procedures must meet the standards of the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (part 7)
- Consider using non-statutory guidance from the DfE for academies
- Non-maintained special schools:
- Your procedures must meet the requirements of section 35 of the schedule to the Education (Non-Maintained Special Schools) (England) Regulations 2011
- All schools with Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provision:
- Your procedures must address additional duties under the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage (sections 3.75 to 3.76)
What this procedure needs to do
Your complaints procedure must consist of at least 3 stages:
- Informal (usually a meeting with the complainant)
- Formal (the complaint is put in writing)
- A panel hearing
The procedure should also state that the panel won't be made up solely of trustees because they aren't independent of the management and running of the academy.
Details of how you'll deal with complaints from people who aren't parents of current pupils. You may use the same procedure you use for complaints