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’s internal processes.
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.
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).
Last year, 91 per cent of cases were classed as “non-qualifying”, up from 88 per cent the previous year.
Ofsted stressed that to qualify for investigation, a parent should first have followed “all local complaint routes”, though the watchdog has power to waive this in serious cases.
The complaint must “raise a serious issue that affects the whole school”.
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’ contribution to pupil wellbeing, and the “spiritual, moral, social and cultural development” of pupils.
Ofsted refers safeguarding matters elsewhere
In a blog post published on Wednesday alongside the new data, national director for education Lee Owston stressed that Ofsted does “not have powers to investigate individual safeguarding matters” and refers these cases to councils or police.
Seventy per cent of all complaints considered last year contained safeguarding concerns.
He added that it “simply isn’t the case” that the increase in complaints is leading to more urgent inspections.
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.
In 93 per cent of qualifying cases, information was retained to be considered at the next scheduled inspection.
Some parents complaining straight to Ofsted
Owston said that parents with concerns “should first go through their school’s internal processes”. Ofsted regularly sees examples of parents not doing this, he added, “or bypassing the school entirely”.
Owston added: “It is important that parents can come to us if they have come to the end of a school’s 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.”
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