Local Government Ombudsman

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LGO Advice team

LGO advice team: 0300 061 0614

 

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What we can't look at

At present we can only look at complaints about school issues if your school is looked after by one of the 14 local authority areas involved in the phased implementation:

Barking and Dagenham
Medway
Sefton
Cambridgeshire
Bristol
Dorset
Hammersmith and Fulham
Hillingdon
Kent
Kensington and Chelsea
Lincolnshire
Portsmouth
Sheffield, and
Wolverhampton

Although the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 extended the LGO’s jurisdiction to include complaints made by parents and pupils about schools, the service has been introduced gradually before a full evaluation will take place.

If you have a complaint about an internal management issue, but your school is not part of the local authority areas named above, you may still get help with your problem by writing to:

The Secretary of State
Department for Education
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT

If you are not sure if your school is state-funded visit www.edubase.gov.uk  This is a database which will tell you what the status of your school is (community, foundation, voluntary aided or voluntary controlled) and which local authority it is ‘maintained’ by.

For complaints about schools that are not the responsibility of the local authority, there are still places you can go to get help.

If you have a complaint about an academy which you have been unable to resolve, you should generally contact the Young People’s Learning Agency, but if your complaint is about school admissions and relates to an academy that has converted from a maintained school during the admission process, we may be able to look into it. We may also be able to consider a complaint about permanent exclusion from an academy, but only if the exclusion appeal was heard before the academy converted from a maintained school.

For complaints about an independent school, or a place that provides education only for students over 16, contact:

Independent and Boarding Team
Department for Education
Mowden Hall
DARLINGTON
DL3 9BG
Tel: 01325 392159

Date Updated: 22/03/12