It is vital that students, parents and carers know who to contact if they have a complaint about bullying.

Schools

If the complaint relates to bullying in  school then the first step should be for the parent or carer to follow the school complaints procedure.

Section 29 of the Education Act 2002 states that:

(1) The governing body of a maintained school shall—

(a) establish procedures for dealing with all complaints relating to the school or to the provision of facilities or services under section 27, other than complaints falling to be dealt with in accordance with any procedures required to be established in relation to the school by virtue of a statutory provision other than this section, and

(b) publicise the procedures so established

Once this route has been exhausted, students, parents and carers from the following local authorities should contact the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO):

Barking and Dagenham
Bristol
Cambridgeshire
Dorset
Hammersmith and Fulham
Hillingdon
Kensington and Chelsea
Kent
Lincolnshire
Medway
Portsmouth
Sefton
Sheffield
Wolverhampton

For more details call the LGO Advice Team on 0300 061 0614 or visit the LGO website.

Students, parents and carers from all other local authorities should follow the complaints procedure of the local authority.

Local authorities need to produce clearly defined procedures to deal with complaints efficiently and to allow interventions at the appropriate level.  Local authorities should decide whether to have a named officer whose role is to deal with complaints.

Some local authorities have or are developing casework services to work directly on bullying complaints and incidents that take referrals from parents.

These services can include:

• Confidential advice
• Mediation
• Support programmes
• Training

Crucially, local authorities can help schools understand the importance of working positively with complaints from parents and carers, providing guidance to help schools develop effective strategies to respond. Responding defensively can make building strong partnerships with parents and carers difficult, and initial responses generally determine the course of the complaint.

Academies

For complaints concerning academies students, parents and carers should contact the Young People's Learning Agency.