ISI Consultation on complaints policy and post inspection arrangements

Introduction

This academic year has proven to be a year of change for the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). In February, ISI opened a consultation on its complaints policy and post inspection arrangements. This followed the introduction of ISI’s new Framework and Inspection Handbook documents at the beginning of this academic year.

ISI is now consulting on proposals that were developed following a pre-consultation stage, which focused on reviewing feedback on its current complaints policy.

ISI proposes to:

• provide further clarity on how complaints are managed,
• make it easier to resolve complaints quickly and informally,
• increase transparency around the independent adjudication stage (stage three), and
• ensure its wider quality assurance processes are implemented.
  
  

The consultation is open to all individuals and organisations who may be impacted by ISI’s complaints policy and post-inspection arrangements. ISI is particularly keen for headteachers, governors, proprietors, school associations, and the DfE to engage with their consultation and provide their views on ISI’s proposals. The consultation closes at 5.00pm on 26 April.

The consultation paper sets out a number of questions for contributors to consider. Off the back of the consultation responses, ISI plans to draft a revised complaints policy in Summer 2024. Any changes will have to be agreed by the DfE before they come into effect. At present, there is no clarity over a timeline for introducing a revised policy.

The Pre-Consultation Phase

The pre-consultation stage which took place between 2020-2023 included:

• An internal review of complaints received during the previous inspection cycle,
• An internal review of feedback that ISI has received about their current complaints policy,
• A pre-consultation survey completed by a sample of 20 school leaders who had submitted a complaint to ISI, and
• A series of one-to-one meetings with school associations and nominated representatives.
  
  

Written feedback received about ISI’s complaints policy under the 2022 inspection cycle identified several key suggestions from stakeholders:

• That the period in which a school may submit an informal complaint in respect of an onsite inspection should be lengthened (it is currently two term-time working days),
• There should be increased opportunities for school leaders to discuss a complaint with ISI, and
• There should be increased transparency around the handling of complaints and decision-making.
  
  

Feedback from school leaders included that:

• More could have been done to resolve issues during the onsite inspection,
• There should be increased opportunities to be heard during the process,
• There should be further clarity around the role of the independent adjudicator, and
• It would be helpful to have a single point of contact throughout the complaints policy and increased opportunity for heads to speak directly to ISI during the inspection.
   

The Proposals

General

The proposal includes the introduction of three guiding principles to the complaints policy:

• Transparency: to ensure the complaints policy is simple to understand and to use.
• Openness: to ensure there are opportunities available for school leaders to give feedback and raise any issues from the start of the onsite inspection through to the end of the complaints policy.
• Fairness: to ensure complaints are handled objectively in all cases and that appropriate action is taken by ISI when a complaint is upheld.
  
  

The proposals then include some more specific points which cover various stages of the complaints process.

The onsite inspection

An important proposal is that the reporting inspector (RI) would call the headteacher before their inspection to explain how the school can feedback on any issues during the inspection. The reporting inspector would give the headteacher a phone number for a contact at ISI’s head office, to use if they feel unable to raise a concern with the RI.

Stage one: informal complaint

In terms of stage one of the complaints process, the current proposal is that ISI would increase the time for school leaders to request a phone call with ISI to discuss their inspection from two to four term-time working days. ISI’s quality assurance team would then handle the complaint, so that they could take the school’s feedback into account during the report quality assurance process.

Stage two: formal complaint

If a school complains following receipt of their draft report, it is proposed that their complaint would be treated as formal and handled by a member of ISI’s complaints team who was not involved in the inspection. The complaints team would offer the school a phone call to discuss their complaint. Schools would be required to submit their complaint within five term-time working days of receiving their draft report (which is the same timeframe as the current policy), to receive a response which should be submitted at the same time as their final report.

Final report publication

In terms of the final report, ISI propose to reduce the time between issuing the final report to the school and publication on ISI’s website from 10 to five term-time working days, to enable more time to be spent on reviewing the school’s factual accuracy responses to their draft report.

In the event a school is unhappy with the final report and wish to delay publication pending escalation to Stage 3 of the complaints process, it is proposed that they would now only have three term-time working days (rather than the current five) from receipt of the outcome of their Stage 2 complaint to write to the DfE (copying in ISI) to request publication to be delayed pending the outcome of the independent adjudicator’s decision.

Stage three: independent adjudication

It is proposed that the school would be given the name and career background of the independent adjudicator and would be copied into the referral. A further change proposed is that the independent adjudicator would deliver their decision to the school directly. In the event they find against ISI, they will inform the school of their reasoning and refer the complaint back to ISI for them to reconsider their decision. In terms of timeframes, the deadline for the independent adjudicator’s decision will be reduced from 30 to 20 term-time working days. Once their decision has been handed down, ISI will then have five term-time working days to write to the school to explain their next steps.

Conclusions

We would encourage headteachers, governors, proprietors and school associations to participate in the consultation, given the rise in complaints we have seen in respect of ISI inspections and to ensure greater clarity for all in respect of the complaints policy. We think it is important to consider the new proposed timeframes, given at times schools will have to respond more quickly under the current proposals. The focus on resolving issues at the informal stage to avoid further escalation will no doubt be welcomed.

This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.

© Farrer & Co LLP, April 2024