Handling complaints effectively
For a school community to thrive, complaints need to be managed well.
A good complaints process should be student-focused, visible, accessible, and valued by everyone.
What do boards with effective complaints processes have in common?
- They regularly work with their school community to co-construct and review their complaints process.
- It’s easy for all school community members to find the complaints policy and the procedures supporting it.
- Their process upholds the principles of natural justice, and their responses are fair, reasonable, transparent, and focused on resolution.
What are the steps of a complaints process?
We suggest that your process contains the following five steps: receive, engage, assess, respond, and finalise.
Step 1 – Receive
When receiving a complaint, there is a lot to consider. This first step is crucial as it sets the tone for your process.
Decide who handles it
Your complaints policy should delegate the authority to your presiding member to decide what action will be taken.
Once they have discussed the complaint with the principal, your presiding member will determine if it should be handled by your board or referred to the principal. If the complaint concerns an employee (including the principal), seek our advice first.
Acknowledge receipt
Communicate with the complainant (within two days if possible) to let them know you have received their complaint. Where possible, outline the process, timelines, and next steps.
Record complaint details in your complaints register, noting the date received, complainant details, and the nature of the complaint.
Inform relevant parties as necessary, including the complainee (the person against whom the complaint is made).
If your board is handling the complaint
If your board is going to investigate and work to resolve the complaint, you should:
- Confirm any conflicts of interest (actual or perceived) are declared and recorded in your board minutes or complaints register. Any conflicted board members must not participate in further discussions or decision-making processes.
- Assign responsibility to a delegated person or committee.
- Set the committee's terms of reference, including clearly stating what they are to investigate and whether they have the authority to decide on behalf of your board or if they need to bring recommendations back to your board for agreement.
- Record any correspondence to your board as inward correspondence, but note it as public-excluded business. This includes a complaint that may be referred to management (your principal).
- Ensure the privacy of any identifiable individuals in the complaint documentation and process is protected.
- At this stage, to minimise future conflicts of interest, your presiding member may decide to share a summary of the complaint rather than the whole complaint with your board.
Step 2 – Engage
It’s essential that the complainant feels heard and knows your board is taking their issues seriously, regardless of how well they can articulate these concerns in writing.
To achieve this, your board (or committee) should actively engage with the complainant to clarify their issue and gather any additional information needed.
This step ensures that you fully understand the matter and what a successful resolution might look like from the complainant’s perspective.
Approach these conversations with curiosity and empathy, and listen without judgment.
At this stage, avoid explaining or defending anything, and be cautious not to create an expectation that you support the complainant or their position. You are simply making sure you understand the complaint correctly.
Step 3 – Assess
Now that you better understand the issues the complainant wants addressed, it’s time to gather relevant documents, testimonies, and any other evidence related to the complaint.
If the complaint concerns something within the school, your board will need to ask the principal to provide you with the required information, or respond to the issues or points raised in the complaint.
You can only start resolving the complaint once you have all the relevant information.
Determine the key complaint issue(s) by identifying areas of agreement, differences in views, and areas of concern.
Next, identify potential resolution options and consider all possible courses of action.
Finally, before responding to the complainant, make sure everyone agrees on the approach.
Check in with the complainee to ensure they agree with any potential courses of action.
A clear process designed with the principal and staff members can avoid misunderstandings.
This also ensures your board maintains neutrality while meeting the requirements of being a good employer.
Step 4 – Respond
Your response needs to be based on a review of all the information obtained during the assessment period and consideration of what is best for the students.
We suggest you outline your findings and proposed actions in draft form first to ensure you provide clear reasons and possible remedies.
Communicate these draft findings to the complainant, complainee, principal, and anyone affected by the outcomes.
Encourage feedback from all parties on the process and proposed steps to resolution.
Correct any identified errors of fact.
It may take several meetings to come to a satisfactory resolution for everyone.
Your board can now move towards finalising the outcome and recording any agreed steps to resolution in writing.
Step 5 – Finalise
The final step in the process is ensuring that any agreed-upon steps to resolution are implemented.
Your board should clearly state how and when you will monitor their effectiveness.
Document the entire complaint process, including outcomes and lessons learned in your complaint register.
Thank the complainant and highlight any learnings or changes in practice that have occurred as a result of their complaint.
Notify all involved parties that the complaint has been resolved and closed.
What should you do after the complaint is resolved?
It can be helpful to follow up with everyone involved at a suitable time in the future (for example, a month or term after your final response letter) to make sure the actions taken have permanently resolved the issues raised.
Ensure your board regularly reviews any concerns and complaints registered to identify trends and areas for improvement across the school.
Using trend and pattern data can help you address any identified areas for improvement and reduce further concerns and complaints.
What happens if you can’t find a successful resolution to a complaint?
Sometimes, a complainant may be fixated on an unreasonable or unachievable outcome.
This may be because the outcome they desire is not in the best interests of the whole school, or your board does not have the resources available to make this outcome happen.
In these situations, having a close-off point in your concerns and complaints policies may be helpful.
Once your board is satisfied that it has made every effort to find a satisfactory resolution that works for everyone and that no workable resolution is obtainable, you can close the complaint.
Please contact us for advice before using a close-off point for a complaint.
Our advisors can offer an objective opinion on whether your board should take this action.
All complainants should be provided with the right of appeal about any decision made by your board.
What happens if the complainant finds your process unfair, unreasonable, or illegal?
A complaint regarding your complaint resolution process should be treated as a serious matter.
It should be dealt with urgently as a new complaint rather than as a reconsideration of the previous issue.
If possible, your board should create a committee of unconflicted board members (anyone who was not originally conflicted and did not partake in the original resolution process) to review your board’s resolution process.
This committee is there to review your board’s compliance with your own policy and resolution process.
The committee will only look at a potential review of the complaint outcomes if the original complaint handling does not comply with your policy.
Your board can advise the complainant that if they are unsatisfied with the outcome or the process followed with this review, they have the right to take the matter to either the Office of the Ombudsman or the High Court (at cost).
Questions your board could ask
- Does our policy encourage open communication and the resolution of issues at the lowest level?
- Have we consulted our community on our concerns and complaints policy and procedure?
- Do we regularly communicate this process with our community?
- Does our policy clearly outline all the stages of dealing with a complaint?
- Do we view any concerns raised as a learning opportunity?
- Do we know when and how to seek advice and support from NZSBA?
Templates, resources, and references
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Links from us
Office of the Ombudsman