Making a complaint

Who to complain to

Choose the relevant option below:

• Learning
• Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans
• Children’s or adult care services
• NHS services

You can also get support to raise a concern or complaint.

By law, every preschool, school and college should have their own complaints procedure. You should be able to find this on their website, but if you can’t find it, you can contact their office and ask for a copy.

In most cases their procedure will direct you to complain informally first to the member of staff closest to the issue, or who knows the most about it. If your complaint is about that member of staff, then someone more senior will deal with it.

If your issue is still not resolved, then the school’s complaints procedure will tell you what happens next. Formal complaints are usually dealt with by the Headteacher, and after that the Chair of Governors. In most cases, they will arrange for a panel of Governors to consider your complaint.

If you go through the whole complaints procedure, and your issue is still not resolved, the next steps will depend on the nature of your issue, and the type of school you have a complaint about.

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If you’re unhappy with the Council’s decision not to assess your child for an EHC Plan, or if you disagree with a decision made about the provision outlined in your child’s EHC Plan, then mediation can help you settle disagreements and resolve any issues.

If you want to appeal to tribunal then you must contact mediation first.

If your child already has an EHC Plan but you feel that provision for them is not being made as specified in Section F of the EHC Plan, you can contact the Complaints Team for Children’s Services.

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If your complaint is to do with a service provided by the Council, you should raise a concern informally first directly with the service.

It is really important you make the service aware of any concerns you have so that they can respond to you as quickly as possible.

If you are still unhappy, you can make a formal complaint to the Complaints Team for Children’s Services or Adult Care Services.

Formal complaints have strict response timescales, are logged centrally and are managed and monitored both by the Complaints Team.

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If you have a complaint about any services provided by the NHS, then you should contact that service first as they may be able to deal with your complaint informally.

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) should be your next port of call if your complaint cannot be resolved. Every service in the NHS has it’s own PALS. They offer confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. You can find contact details for the right PALS using their local branch search tool, or by calling 111.

You can also complain formally to your health provider, or the NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) for the area in which the service was provided.

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Get in touch with us

If you can't find what you need, feel free to get in touch with us. Our opening hours are:

• Monday to Thursday from 9.30am to 3pm
• Friday from 9.30am to 2pm

We aim to respond to all enquiries within 3 working days.