School Complaints

If your complaint is about school admissions, school exclusions or special education needs, we have produced separate, specific factsheets covering these topics.

Our role in respect of complaints about schools is very restricted.  We may sometimes investigate an authority’s handling of a complaints or review procedure, but not the essential issues behind the complaint.

While we might be able to look at a complaint that a local council (in its capacity as Local Education Authority) had, for example, taken too long to review a complaint about a school complaints process, we could not look at the issues originally raised in the complaint to the school itself.

In light of the restricted nature of our powers in respect of schools issues, before putting a complaint in writing to us, we would encourage you to call us for advice as to whether or not we are likely to be able to look at your complaint.

We cannot look at complaints about any action taken by a school or its governing body regarding teaching, conduct, curriculum, internal organisation, management or discipline. This means that the probability of us having any power to investigate a complaint about a school (other than the highly restricted matters referred to above or about the specific issues covered in our previously mentioned separate fact sheets) is low.

LEAs and diocesan authorities (for faith schools) do not have a statutory role in resolving complaints about schools as that responsibility rests with the governing body of the school.

The Welsh Government has issued guidance to school governing bodies about the structure of a formal complaints procedure. You can find a copy of the guidance on the Welsh Government’s website at: https://www.gov.wales/school-complaints-procedures-guidance. 

If you are not sure whether we would be able to look into your complaint, please contact us on 0300 790 0203 or ask@ombudsman.wales

Also available in Welsh.