{"id":243305,"date":"2026-03-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=243305"},"modified":"2026-03-17T17:10:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:10:33","slug":"complaints-to-ofsted-rise-as-parents-urged-to-approach-schools-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/complaints-to-ofsted-rise-as-parents-urged-to-approach-schools-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Complaints to Ofsted rise as parents urged to approach schools first"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Complaints to Ofsted about schools have risen by five per cent in a year, new data reveals, with parents being urged not to bypass their school\u2019s internal processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inspectorate received 16,700 complaints about schools in the 2024-25 financial year, a rise from 15,900 the previous year and equating to more than 45 complaints each day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, despite the increase in volume, the proportion of complaints considered to qualify for investigation fell from 12 per cent (1,860) in 2023-24 to 9 per cent (1,710).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, 91 per cent of cases were classed as \u201cnon-qualifying\u201d, up from 88 per cent the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofsted <\/a>stressed that to qualify for investigation, a parent should first have followed \u201call local complaint routes\u201d, though the watchdog has power to waive this in serious cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint must \u201craise a serious issue that affects the whole school\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must relate to one of six areas: quality of education, quality of leadership, how far education meets the range of pupils, educational standards, the schools\u2019 contribution to pupil wellbeing, and the \u201cspiritual, moral, social and cultural development\u201d of pupils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ofsted refers safeguarding matters elsewhere<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a blog post <\/a>published on Wednesday alongside the new data, national director for education Lee Owston stressed that Ofsted does \u201cnot have powers to investigate individual safeguarding matters\u201d and refers these cases to councils or police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lee
Lee Owston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Seventy per cent of all complaints considered last year contained safeguarding concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that it \u201csimply isn\u2019t the case\u201d that the increase in complaints is leading to more urgent inspections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-five immediate inspections were triggered by complaints last year, compared to 35 the previous year. In 31 other cases, complaints led to scheduled inspections being brought forward. This was down from 67 cases in 2023-24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 93 per cent of qualifying cases, information was retained to be considered at the next scheduled inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some parents complaining straight to Ofsted<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Owston said that parents with concerns \u201cshould first go through their school\u2019s internal processes\u201d. Ofsted regularly sees examples of parents not doing this, he added, \u201cor bypassing the school entirely\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owston added: \u201cIt is important that parents can come to us if they have come to the end of a school\u2019s own processes. But we want to be clear that we never rush to inspect without carefully considering whether this is the right and proportionate thing to do, in the interests of pupils.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Complaints to watchdog rise by 5 per cent as watchdog says some parents are bypassing internal processes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":314902,"featured_media":175213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[25],"post-theme":[2378],"class_list":["post-243305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ofsted","post-theme-ofsted"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t