Ofsted's complaint handling needed to go further

Summary 770 |

Ms T was concerned about the attitude of an inspector from the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) during an inspection. She felt Ofsted did not handle her complaint about this in a reasonable way.


What happened

After an Ofsted inspection of her nursery, Ms T complained to Ofsted about the inspector. Ms T said she and other staff felt the inspector had not listened to them and had been dismissive. She also complained that the inspector had not met the requirements of Ofsted'sguidance.

Unhappy with Ofsted's response to her complaint, Ms T then complained to Ofsted's adjudication service. She told the adjudicator that other nurseries had complained about the same inspector. When the adjudicator told Ofsted about these other complaints, Ofsted took no action.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. Ofsted's response to Ms T's complaint about the attitude of the inspector was reasonable overall. But it would have been better to have clarified with her the extent to which she was unhappy about the inspector's attitude.

Ofsted should have considered Ms T's comments about the other, similar complaints once it was aware of them.

Putting it right

Ofsted considered Ms T's comments about the other complaints, although this did not change its decision.

Health or Parliamentary
Parliamentary
Organisations we investigated

Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted)

Location

UK

Complainants' concerns ?

Not applicable

Result

Not applicable