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The first step to resolving any disagreement is to talk to the other party, explain your concerns and see if you can come to an agreement. If after a meeting, your concerns have not been resolved, you may want to consider other ways forward to resolve the situation.
When things go wrong, you can:
- raise your concerns informally with the decision maker or relevant person
- have a disagreement resolution meeting
- use mediation
- make a complaint
- appeal to the Send Tribunal
We can:
- help you to understand the different complaint routes which are available to you
- listen to your concerns
- help you sort out the issues
- identify other people or services who can support you
- help you decide what to do next
Types of complaint
Use the following menu items to learn more about the complaints procedure for the following settings:
Head Teacher and Governor complaints
Most families have positive relationships with schools, but sometimes, things can go wrong.
All school governing bodies should have a procedure to deal with complaints about all aspects of the school. The procedure must be publicised. Local authority (LA) maintained schools must publish this online. Academy trusts must provide it on request and are expected to publish it online. You can look at the complaints procedure so you know exactly how your complaint will be handled.
You can read section 6.16 of the Department for Education's Governance Handbook to understand the requirements for schools in detail.
You can also read full guidance on making a complaint about a school on the GOV.UK website.
If you are not happy with the response from the school
If you have concerns about a child with special educational needs and you are not happy with the response you have received from the school, you can contact the nominated special educational needs governor who should be able to help resolve the dispute.
For further help and tips about making a complaint, see our guide to making a complaint about school.
You may also find the following resources useful:
- Complain about a school (GOV.UK)
- Making a complaint about a nursey, school, or college (IPSEA)
- Complain about a further education apprenticeship (GOV.UK)
- SEND complaints: A guide for young people aged 16 to 25 in education (GOV.UK)
- Making a complaint or challenging a decision (IPSEA)
- Complaints to schools (Coram Child Law Advice)
If you believe that the governing body is acting unreasonably or failing to carry out statutory duties, you may make a complaint to the Secretary of State for Education.
Complaints about academies are handled by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) on behalf of the Secretary of State. You can learn more about how the Department for Education handles complaints about academies on the GOV.UK website.
Private schools
The Department of Education cannot deal with individual complaints about private schools. However, it can arrange an emergency inspection if it fails to meet any of the regulatory standards.
If you're unhappy with the provision your child is receiving through their Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan), or the provision in their plan is not being provided, you can contact the SEN team at the local authority to raise your concerns.
Contact the SEN team at Bath and North East Somerset Council by emailing sen_admin@bathnes.gov.uk.
If you contact the SEN team and are dissatisfied with their response, you can make a complaint or give feedback to the local authority using their complaints procedure. You can also find more information on the complaints process on the Bath and North East Somerset Council website.
Get help writing a letter of complaint
You can access information and a templated letter for complaining when the provision in an EHC Plan is not being made by visiting the IPSEA website.
If you're not satisfied with the local authority's response, or if you don't get a response within a reasonable amount of time, in certain circumstances you can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
You can find out more about the Ombudsman's role in complaints about special educational needs by visiting the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman website.
You can also find further information about complaining to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman by visiting the IPSEA website.
If you wish to make a complaint about issues that affect a whole school and not an individual child; as a parent you have a legal right to raise a complaint with Ofsted.
Ofsted is the body which inspects a range of public services including schools. Parents have a legal right to complain to Ofsted about maintained schools, academies, city technology colleges, maintained nursery schools and non-maintained special schools.
You can complain to Ofsted about issues such as:
- unsatisfactory quality of education and standards achieved
- inadequate provision for pupils with SEN
- neglect of pupils' personal development and wellbeing
- poor quality of leadership and management
If Ofsted consider your complaint to be very serious, they can call an immediate inspection of a school at short notice.
Find more information about complaining to Ofsted on the IPSEA website.
If you have spoken to a service about your concerns but can’t resolve the issue directly with the service, you can use the NHS complaints procedure to escalate your complaint to whoever is responsible for commissioning the service.
Visit the Healthwatch website for information about making a complaint about the NHS or social care services.
You can also get advice and support about the health and social care services in B&NES by contacting Healthwatch for B&NES.
Alternatively, you can seek support from the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) who offer confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters.
The aim of disagreement resolution is to resolve disagreements between parents or young people and organisations that are responsible for making or providing support for a child or young person.
Local Authorities must make disagreement resolution services available to parents and young people (please see the SEND Code of Practice). Use of disagreement resolution services is voluntary and has to have agreement of all parties.
Disagreement Resolution can be used for disputes about:
- how local authorities or education providers (early years, schools, colleges) carry out their education, health and care duties for children or young people with SEND
- the SEND provision made by education providers.
- health and social care provision during all the stages of the EHC plan process
A parent or young person can ask for disagreement resolution at any time during the SEND process, even when you have already lodged a tribunal appeal.
Access to disagreement resolution covers all children and young people with SEND, whether or not they have an EHC Plan.
Disagreement resolution services are commissioned by the local authority and they must remain independent of the local authority. No-one who is directly employed by the local authority can provide disagreement resolution services.
Global Mediation
In Bath and North East Somerset, Global Mediation is the independent service which is commissioned to provide mediation and disagreement resolution. Global Mediation provide a trained mediator to facilitate a discussion between parties. The aim is to look for a way forward that all the parties accept. The service is free and confidential and you can choose whether to use it. You do not have to choose between making a complaint and using disagreement resolution and mediation.
You can contact us if you need help to understand the different complaint procedures, or advice on which to use.
If you're not happy with the outcome of making a complaint, or feel that it hasn't been dealt with properly, we can also give you information about what to do next.