Parents and Carers
- SEN Support in Mainstream Schools
- SEN Support in School Meetings
- Choosing a School or College
- Education Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessments, Plans and Reviews
- Appeals and Mediation
- Attendance and Exclusions
- Transitioning Between Schools or Settings
- Early Years
- SEND Funding
- Transport to School and College
- Preparing For Adulthood (PfA)
- Making a Complaint
- Health Needs and Education
- Elective Home Education (EHE)
- School Admissions
- Disability Discrimination
- Children's Disability Register
Making a Complaint
Most concerns or informal complaints can be addressed and resolved at an informal level by talking to the class teacher or the school SENCO. If your child attends an Early Years setting, you can raise concerns with the setting management.
All registered childminders, daycare providers, nurseries, playgroups and pre-schools must have a process for handling complaints. You can usually find this on the setting’s website and can also ask the Early Years provider directly.
What to do if you are still not satisfied
If you are not satisfied with the response, you can complain to Ofsted about:
- daycare providers
- nannies - if they are registered with Ofsted
- nurseries
- playgroups
- registered childminders.
How Ofsted will deal with your complaint
Ofsted will review your complaint and see if they need to:
- carry out an immediate inspection
- work with other agencies to look into the issues you have raised.
They may also ask the childcare provider to investigate and, if necessary, make changes.
Ofsted will publish the results of an inspection on their website. They will not reply to you directly.
Ofsted cannot resolve individual disagreements with your childcare provider.
Where appropriate, if you have tried to resolve the concern at an informal level, and have not received the desired outcome or response, you may raise the issue through a formal complaints procedure. Schools are required by law, to have a complaints process. Complaints policies are usually published on their website, but you can also ask the school office for a copy.
On some occasions a complaint may need to be raised with the Head Teacher or School Governors.
It may also be useful to check if the school has a ‘SEN Information Report’. This will usually outline how to complain to them about SEN provision.
The Department for Education’s (“DfE’s”) website sets out guidance on how to make a complaint.
The DfE has also published guidance for maintained nurseries and schools on best practice for complaints procedures, which outlines what the DfE expects schools to do if they receive a complaint.
Complaints to the DfE (Department for Education)
You need to complete the school’s complaints procedure before you complain to DfE, unless one of the following applies:
- a child is not getting an education
- a child has been exposed to harm
- the school is stopping you from following its complaints procedure.
The DfE will consider your complaint. They may use the information you provide to recommend improvements to school policies.
The DfE cannot deal with complaints about:
- early years settings
- fines for taking holidays in term time (sometimes known as a ‘fixed penalty notice’)
- lack of compensation or apologies from the school
- the behaviour of school staff - instead you can report teacher misconduct.
If you have followed all the steps in the school’s complaints procedure and believe your complaint was not dealt with correctly, you can complain to the DfE.
Complaints to the DfE regarding a private school
The Department for Education (DfE) cannot investigate individual complaints about private schools. But it has certain powers as a regulator if the school is not meeting standards set by the DfE for:
- education
- pupil welfare and health and safety
- school premises
- staff suitability
- making information available to parents
- spiritual, moral, social or cultural development of students.
The DfE will consider any reports of a major failure to meet the standards. It can arrange an emergency inspection to look at pupil welfare and health and safety, and make sure serious failings are dealt with.
The DfE can ask the school inspectorates to take minor complaints into account when the school is next inspected.
You can complain to the DfE by filling in the school complaints form.
If you’ve complained to the school and the problem has not been resolved, you can complain to Ofsted. This does not mean that Ofsted will then inspect the school.
They will record your complaint and may use the information you’ve provided to help them decide what areas to focus on at their next inspection.
Ofsted considers complaints about things that affect the whole school rather than individuals.
Ofsted cannot:
- resolve issues between you and the school
- ask the school to respond directly to your complaint or take action on it
- change the outcome of a complaint
- change the school’s complaints process because of a complaint.
You can complain about a state school to Ofsted.
Complaints to The Information Commissioner’s Office and The Secretary of State
If your complaint is about data protection, or a nursery, school, or college’s failure to provide you with information you are entitled to, you should complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
You can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if you wish to complain about:
- a school failing to meet the provisions set out in Section F of the EHC plan, despite having the resources to do so
- the processes that were followed by an independent review panel following an exclusion
- the processes followed by an admissions appeals panel.
Making a complaint about a Local Authority Team
Most complaints or concerns can be resolved by speaking to the Local Authority Teams directly. You can raise an informal concern by contacting the team directly and asking to speak about your concern.
If you are dissatisfied with their response, you can complain through the Local Authority’s complaints procedures:
Nottinghamshire County Council complaints procedure can be found here
Nottingham City Council complaints procedure can be found here
Most complaints or concerns can be resolved by speaking to the Local Authority Teams directly. You can raise an informal concern by contacting the team directly and asking to speak about your concern.
If you are dissatisfied with their response, you can complain through the Local Authority’s complaints procedures:
Nottinghamshire County Council complaints procedure can be found here
Nottingham City Council complaints procedure can be found here
Most complaints or concerns can be resolved by speaking to the health teams directly. You can raise an informal concern by contacting the team directly and asking to speak about your concern.
If you are dissatisfied with their response, you may complain about a Nottinghamshire Health Care service by contacting the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).
Judicial review is a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body.
They are different to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST), as SENDIST will hear appeals about a specific set of issues such as Education, Health and Care Plan disputes.
Judicial reviews are a way to challenge the way in which a decision has been made, rather than the rights and wrongs of the conclusion reached.
It is not really concerned with the conclusions of that process and whether those were ‘right’, provided the right procedures have been followed. The court will not substitute what it thinks is the ‘correct’ decision.
If you want to argue that a decision was incorrect, judicial review may not be best for you.
At Judicial Review, if the court rules the decision wasn’t made lawfully, was unreasonable, or disproportionate, then the court can order the public body to start over and re-make the decision. Sometimes, this order will lead to a different decision, but it may be that the body reach the same decision again, but in a lawful way.
In some cases, the court may make a 'mandatory order’, which means that the public body must act in a particular way. For example, a mandatory order might be made if the local authority is failing to secure the educational provision in Section F of an EHCP, as in that case, the only lawful outcome is to secure the provision.
When might a judicial review be needed?
A judicial review may be necessary where there is no other way the complaint could be resolved. For example:
- The Local Authority (LA) has agreed to issue an EHC plan, but fails to issue the final plan, resulting in the child or young person missing special educational provision or schooling.
- The LA fails to secure the provision set out in an EHC plan, resulting in the child or young person missing education.
- The LA has unreasonably decided to stop providing home to school transport, to which a child or young person is entitled, meaning the child or young person cannot get to their place of learning.
- The governing body of a school refuses to admit a child or young person despite being named in the EHC plan (where there has been no formal exclusion).
How to start judicial proceedings
If you are thinking of requesting a judicial review, there are some important things to consider:
Legal assistance
Unlike a SENDIST appeal (where you can represent yourself) it is advised that you seek professional legal advice and/or representation for a judicial review. Public laws can be very complicated and if you lose the case you could be responsible for covering the legal costs for the opposing side. You may be able to apply for legal aid, but the criteria for this support is means tested.
Trying other processes first
The judicial court will expect you to have tried other methods of resolving your claim first, such as making a formal complaint to the public body, complaining to the local government and social care ombudsman or to have considered an appeal or mediation.
Timescales for appeal
Judicial review applications must be made within three months of the grounds for the claim arising.
Pre-Action Stage:
Within the ‘pre-action’ stage, a formal pre-action letter must be sent to the Local Authority explaining the issue and giving it an opportunity to resolve the matter. It is helpful to gain support from a law professional to draft the letter to ensure it covers everything it needs to. Following that, an application needs to be made to court for permission to bring the case to judicial review.
Making a formal complaint (IPSEA)
Making a complaint about an EHC plan (IPSEA)
Department for Education (DfE) SEND Code of Practice - see sections 11.2 and 11.67 to 11.111 for complaints advice
SEND Local Offer
The Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council SEND Local Offers are a great resource for finding events, support and activities in your area.
City Council County Council