Handling persistent or aggressive complaints from parents

Read about best practice for dealing with persistent or aggressive complaints from parents. Find out how to use your complaints procedure to close a complaint and stop responding.

Last reviewed on 7 January 2022
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 10176
Contents
  1. Take informal steps first
  2. Communicate your complaints procedure
  3. How to close complaints and stop responding
  4. Don't allow group complaints
  5. Dealing with aggressive parents

Take informal steps first

You should try to resolve complaints informally and promptly. Careful communication with parents at this stage can stop the flow of consistent complaints and prevent aggressive behaviour.

The first step usually involves a face-to-face meeting (where possible) with the complainant, the subject of the complaint, and appropriate senior leaders. To help resolve the issue, you could ask the following people to also be present:

Use your own judgement about who should be at the meeting. This will depend on how severe the complaint is and what steps will be appropriate to address it. If a