Guidance

Setting up an academies complaints procedure

How to create an academies complaints procedure that complies with the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2014.

• From: Department for Education and Education and Skills Funding Agency
• Published: 11 March 2014
• Last updated: 12 March 2021
  Show all updates

  1. 12 March 2021

     Setting up an academy complaints procedure: The model documents have been updated.

  2. 16 July 2020

     Updated with best practice guidance for academies complaints and model policies for single academies and for academies in a multi-academy trust.

  3. 27 January 2015

     Amended links from 2010 to 2014 Regulations and updated and revised complaints procedure added.

  4. 11 March 2014

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Best practice guidance for academies complaints procedures

HTML

Model complaints procedure: single academy

ODT, 37 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Model complaints procedure: academy in a multi-academy trust

ODT, 41.8 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Details

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) closed on 31 March 2025. All activity has moved to the Department for Education (DfE). You should continue to follow this guidance.

This guide provides information for academies and trusts about setting up and administering a complaints procedure that complies with the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2014.

There are also model complaints procedures for single academies and for academies in a multi-academy trust.