School-based complaints

HFL Education Complaint Investigations and Resources Service

HFL Education offers a range of resources and support to aid effective and timely management of school-based complaints.

• Complaints toolkit

• Complaint plans

• Complaint reviews

• Independent investigations

• Panel preparation

• Process flowcharts

• Process reviews

• Webinars

For full information please visit:

HFL Education: Complaint Investigations and Resources Service

HCC School Complaints Advisory Service

Hertfordshire County Council offers a Complaints Advisory Service for schools wanting advice and guidance on handling and responding to complaints.  This service is provided by the HCC Complaints Team for Children’s Services and has been operational since September 2018.

Schools can email in or telephone to obtain specialist support and guidance in relation to formal or complex complaints.

The service is available Monday to Thursday, 9.00am to 5.00pm and Friday, 9.00am to 4.30pm.

The benefits for schools include:

• schools will be able to ensure compliance with their complaints process
• schools will receive expert and impartial specialist advice and support
• the service can be used to gain information about any changes in complaints legislation that may affect the handling of school-based complaints
• advice will be provided by a trained professional with experience in dealing with school-based complaints
• the service is open to all types of state-funded school to purchase
• the service is highly cost effective when compared with the costs associated with compensation payments for complex or protracted cases
• optional Complaints Training for each school’s Designated Complaints Lead is offered annually should a school’s purchased time allocation for that academic year not be fully utilised
• optional review of the school’s complaints policy to ensure compliance with current legislation should the school’s purchased time allocation for that academic year not be fully utilised

The Complaints Team also has access to HCC’s Legal Department which can advise on specific legal matters arising from complaints (separate charges may apply).

Purchasing the service

Two levels of service are available:

Silver Service - £225 (+VAT if applicable) per academic year – for 4½ hours of support and advice as outlined above.

Gold Service - £450 (+VAT if applicable) per academic year – for 9 hours of support and advice as outlined above.

£50 (+VAT if applicable) per hour for any additional hours purchased.

In order to aid service planning and capacity, an annual agreement needs to be signed and returned to the Complaints Team.

If you would like to purchase the service or require any further information, please contact the Complaints Manager on 01992 556169 or email cs.complaints@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

HCC Complaints Policy and Procedure template

Hertfordshire County Council has produced a Complaints Policy and Procedure template for all maintained schools within the County.  The template is supported by a Stage 2 Complaints Toolkit to assist Staff and Governors through the complaints process.  This includes a Checklist of Actions and suggested template letters.

The Complaints Policy and Procedure template features:

• clarification on who can make a complaint
• distinguishing between concerns and complaints
• guidance on how complaints may be submitted
• increased emphasis on timescales
• examples of what can and cannot be complained about
• detailed guidance on how to deal with Stage 1 complaints (previous guidance focused more on Stage 2)
• clarification on roles and responsibilities during the complaints process
• a formal complaint form to adopt and use
• new guidance on dealing with unreasonable behaviour and vexatious complaints

HFL Clerking Service

Please note: Herts County Council (HCC) Complaints’ Guidance and Individual School Complaints Policies may refer to additional tasks by the clerk.

• these tasks refer to tasks a clerk based in a school would be expected to complete
• for schools that subscribe to the HFL clerking service for a set number of meetings, this role is not included as part of the package. Clerking for a complaint is an additional service and HfL clerks get involved at the point a panel has been arranged. Therefore these schools will need to appoint a School Complaints’ Co-ordinator (SCC) to support these additional tasks. The SCC could be a governor/trustee or a member of the school staff
• all requests for a HFL clerk to support a complaint panel should be made to clerking@hfleducation.org. We will confirm the details of the service and the price for a clerk to support a panel. We can arrange for a clerk to support as SCC but this will involve an additional fee

Setting up an academies complaints procedure

Guidance and model complaints policies for single and multi-academy trusts.

Gov.UK: Setting up an academies complaints procedure