Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support the Government provides for parents who wish to pursue complaints with academy schools about their provision of support for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

Local authorities must make disagreement resolution services available to parents and young people for matters relating to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). These services can be used for disagreements between parents or young people and schools, including academies, about the SEND provision made for a child or young person, whether they have education, health and care plans or not. Further information about these services can be found on the local authority’s local offer website.

All academies must have a complaints procedure, which complies with Part 7 of the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014. If a complainant has completed the school’s complaints procedure, or if they feel they have been prevented from doing so, they can complain to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). The ESFA will consider whether an academy has followed the correct process in handling a complaint, but the ESFA cannot change an academy’s decision about a complaint. Further information on the ESFA’s remit in considering complaints more fully is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/complain-about-an-academy/complain-about-an-academy. Guidance on taking forward complaints about SEND support is available here: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-school/sen-complaints.