If you wish to complain to governors please read this whole page before sending in a complaint. There are many situations where it’s not appropriate or possible to complain to the governing body.
If you wish to contact governors for another reason the school may list a contact number or email address for the chair of governors/trustees on its website. I would not expect email addresses for individual governors to be listed.
If there are no contact details for the chair you can phone, email or write to the school office and ask for your message to be passed on.
There may also be an email address listed for the clerk to governors who can pass on a message to any member of the governing body. The clerk may be known as a governance professional or governance lead.
All schools must publish online the full name of their chair of governors/trustees and every person who sits on their governing body. However, there is no statutory duty to publish a contact email or phone number for the chair or any governor individually.
All schools must also publish details of their governing body in Get Information About Schools (GIAS). You can search for a school name to find a list of all governing body members and their terms of office, or search the name of an individual to see which schools they govern.
When should I contact school governors?
If you would like to see minutes from governor meetings they are public documents. They may be on the school website (but do not have to be) and the clerk to governors will have copies.
The clerk can also help if you wish to find out more about volunteering as a governor or you would like to attend a governors’ meeting. Meetings are not automatically open to the public but governors can invite anyone to attend.
Can I complain to the governors?
Before complaining to a school you should read the school’s complaints policy which must be on a maintained school’s website and should be online in academies. (If you would like a paper copy the school should provide you with one free of charge.)
This policy will explain how complaints are handled and when governors get involved. Complaints will usually be considered in a series of stages, beginning with an attempt to resolve the issue informally. A separate article looks at the details of complaints policies and procedures.
Governors will typically only be involved in school complaints when the headteacher or another member of staff has investigated first and the complainant is unhappy with their response.
Bear in mind that contacting school governors is not the equivalent of asking to speak to someone’s supervisor! The headteacher is in charge of the day-to-day running of the school, its internal management and organisation. Governors have neither the power nor the expertise to over-rule operational decisions.
Template Complaint Letter To School Governors
The form below is adapted from the Department for Education’s model complaints policy. It allows you to send a complaint to a school and explain what actions you are looking for in order to resolve the complaint, eg: an apology or a discussion with a staff member.
Make sure you read your school’s own complaints policy before filling out this form, as the school may provide its own form instead.
Download Template Complaint Letter To School Governors (.docx file)
Can I speak to an individual governor?
Yes, but not to register a complaint. You can certainly speak to governors about any aspect of school life, although bear in mind they have a strategic remit that means they are not involved in the everyday running of the school.
It is not a good idea to speak to an individual governor about a complaint instead of following the complaints policy. The individual will have no power to act on your complaint, as the governing body itself has collective responsibility.
Speaking to them may also mean they cannot have further involvement in the complaint as the school may need to find “untainted”, unbiased and impartial governors with no prior knowledge of the situation to sit on the complaints panel.
“If there’s any reasonable doubt as to a person’s ability to act impartially, they should withdraw from considering the complaint.
“When making decisions, you must not act in a way that is biased. The appearance of bias may be sufficient to taint a decision even if there is no actual bias.
“We generally consider that governors with no prior exposure to the complaint are suitably impartial, unless the complainant provides us with evidence to the contrary.”
Best Practice Guidance for School Complaints Procedures (Maintained Schools)
Occasionally parents mistakenly believe that parent governors or trustees are “on their side” and will sort out complaints for them because they think that is part of their role. However, parent governors have exactly the same role and power as any other governor. They are not the voice of the parents and have no power to address complaints individually.