Complaints unmanageable?

A recent Tes investigation has shown that parental complaints faced by schools are increasing. Their survey reveals:

• More than 8 out of 10 school leaders see the number of vexatious complaints increasing
• Almost a quarter of school leaders see the number of parental complaints as ‘unmanageable’
• There has been a 65% increase in complaints from secondary school parents to Ofsted since 2019
• Heads say the complaints system feels like the ‘Wild West’, with the problem being driven by social media ‘frenzy’ and overstretched public services.

The national body representing multi academy trusts (CST) has called for the Department for Education (DfE) to make urgent changes to support schools in coping with a rising wave of parental complaints.  In a recent briefing CST called for the DfE to create a system that ensures complaints about schools are investigated once, not multiple times.

The NAHT have also recently said that one of the biggest problems is that the same complaint can be made to multiple agencies at the same time so schools end up dealing with the same complaint over and over again.