Feedback on our work
We are committed to a high standard of service. We aim to get things right first time.
Your suggestions, compliments and complaints help us to improve and we encourage feedback from all of our stakeholders.
We proactively gather views on and experiences of our work through focus groups, surveys, and inspection related questionnaires.
Areas included in our complaints-handling procedure
You can complain about our work, and this may include:
- the standard and quality of what we do
- the content of our work
- the conduct of a member of our staff
- specific inaccuracies
Areas not included in our complaints-handling procedure
However, there are some complaints that we cannot deal with:
- Inspection judgements made after an inspection or review. This is because, before and during an inspection, it is up to the provider to ensure they share all of the evidence needed for the inspection team to reach its judgements accurately and fairly.
- An establishment that we inspect and work with, such as a school. You must follow their own complaints procedure in the first instance
- Policies set by Welsh Government. Please visit www.gov.wales
We follow statutory deadlines for our inspection reports, so will not normally delay publication while we investigate a complaint.
Other resources
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales offers advice on how to complain about a public service.
Contact us
Robert Gairey
Feedback and Complaints Manager
02920 446309
We welcome correspondence in both English and Welsh and will give each language equal priority.
Frequently asked questions about feedback and complaints
If you have a complaint about a school or other education and training provider you should raise your concerns with the provider in the first instance. We do not investigate or follow up complaints on the activities of individual schools or providers. Your first course of action is to raise your concerns formally through the school’s complaints procedure. Failing satisfaction at that stage, you should escalate the complaint to the Director of Education or equivalent in the local authority.
Section 29 of the Education Act 2002 requires the governing bodies of all maintained schools in Wales to establish procedures for dealing with complaints and to publicise such procedures.
There is no statutory duty on schools to keep a log of parents’ complaints. However, the Welsh Government advises schools to do so, in their guidance to governors School Governing Body Complaints Procedures: Circular No 011/2012.
Individual schools must have a published complaints policy, which sets out for parents, carers and pupils how to complain, and how the school will manage these complaints. School anti‑bullying policies may also give details about how complaints about bullying will be managed.
Local authorities will also have published policies, which govern how its services must log and respond to complaints. These may also require schools to maintain a log of parental complaints. However, each local authority will have determined its own policy in this area.
Local authorities only get involved with a parent’s complaint, where a complainant is dissatisfied with the school’s handling of the complaint and refers it to the authority.
We often receive complaints from parents. However, we do not have the powers to investigate these. Instead, we advise the complainant to raise the issue in writing first with the school, then if not satisfied with the local authority. If the complainant remains unsatisfied, they may then raise their issue with the local authority ombudsman.
Standard 7 of the Independent School Standards (Wales) Regulations 2003 requires independent schools in Wales to have a written policy and procedures for dealing with complaints and to publicise such procedures. Regulation 7j states that a written record of all complaints must be kept by an independent school.
Find out more about our complaints handling procedure here.