Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
Section 160 of the Education and Inspection Act 2006 amended the Education Act 2005 (inserting sections 11A to 11C), providing a procedure for Ofsted to investigate parents’ complaints about a school. The schools about which a complaint can be considered are by section 11A(5) those listed in section 5(2) of the Education Act 2005, that is—
community, foundation and voluntary schools,
community and foundation special schools,
maintained nursery schools,
Academies,
city technology colleges,
city colleges for the technology of the arts, and
non-maintained special schools (special schools approved under section 342 of the Education Act 1996).
These Regulations prescribe various matters in relation to the handling by Ofsted of parents’ complaints. In particular they set out the areas of complaint which are qualifying complaints, consistent with Ofsted’s functions in section 2(1)(a) to (f) of the Education Act 2005 (regulation 3), and provide that a complaint cannot be considered if there is an alternative statutory route, other than the school’s complaints procedure required to be established by the school’s governing body under section 29(1)(a) of the Education Act 2002 (regulation 4). In addition the Regulations set out the general rule that a complaint cannot be considered unless the school’s complaints procedure has first been exhausted (regulation 5) subject to the Chief Inspector’s discretion to waive this requirement (regulation 6).