Pupil Exclusions: Complaints
(asked on 20th April 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many complaints about pupil suspensions were upheld by her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by
Olivia Bailey
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department’s School Complaints Compliance Unit considers complaints about exclusions including pupil suspensions in relation to both academies and local authority maintained schools. Complaints are categorised as exclusions complaints on our case management system. Data on complaints logged as exclusion complaints for the last five academic years is in the table below:
Number of exclusion complaints upheld or partially upheld by the department | ||
Academic Year | Number of academy exclusion complaints | Number of maintained school exclusion complaints |
2020/21 | 13 | 7 |
2021/22 | 13 | 8 |
2022/23 | 11 | 5 |
2023/24 | 27 | 5 |
2024/25 | 13 | 9 |
2025/26* | 13 | 9 |
Total | 90 | 43 |
*Complaints received and closed up to and including 31 March 2026.