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Academies: Complaints

Asked by James McMurdockIndependentDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 16 January 2025UIN 23111

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce a standardised complaints process for academy schools.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell

​​All academies are required to have a complaints process which adheres to Part 7 of the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014. This sets out that it is the academy’s responsibility to handle and resolve any complaints. If a complainant has concerns that an academy did not handle a complaint in line with the regulations, they can then escalate to the department, whose role it is to consider whether the academy followed the correct process.

The department’s ‘Best practice guidance for academies complaints procedures’ can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-up-an-academies-complaints-procedure/best-practice-guidance-for-academies-complaints-procedures.

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