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School Complaints Compliance Unit

I put in complaint to the School Complaints Compliance Unit DfE on the 7th July 2025 about how my children's school handled a formal complaint I made about a serious staff misconduct issue.

I informed the School Complaints Compliance Unit about the nature of my complaint from the outset. They confirmed that they were the right department to contact, and I was requested to provide them with a list of documentation e.g. copy of my complaint to the school, response to my complaint and the school's complaint policy.

I had to email the member of staff several times because it was evident that they had failed to do the following:

(1) Read my emails carefully.
(2) Read the school's response to my complaint carefully.
(3) Read my complaint form.

I expressed my concerns about the above to the staff member. However, they still continued not to read my messages carefully and address the concerns I raised.

To make matters worse, after I had taken the time to provide them with the documentation listed above and several email exchanges later, I was then informed that they do not actually deal with complaints about how schools have handled staff misconduct issues.

I think most of the staff are either incompetent, unknowledgeable and lazy mouse jigglers that overuse AI to respond to queries and complaints, or they just use chat bots to deal with complaints.

Due to my suspicions, I did do some research online and I did read that the DfE do use chatbots. That's fine for general queries but no serious complaints.

General Complaints Department.
I also think that the general complaints team are useless. I contacted them twice by phone to query if they were the appropriate department to put in a complaint about how the Teaching Regulation investigated a complaint I made they informed me that the DfE was the correct department. As a result, I completed a complaint form. However, all the DfE did was forward my complaint to the TRA, which I could have done myself. To make matters worse they sent my complaint to a less senior member of staff that I had already been in communications with.

I'm shocked by the incompetence of the resolution centre. And, of course, we have to pay the consequences. Every time I call, they tell me something different, and after months, I still haven't been able to do what I want to do. It's shameful!!!

I waited for more than 3 weeks, and still did not receive the ETAvisum. Bad bad service.

I waited three weeks for my application to be processed, only to receive £65 for an entire month — barely enough for food. The “support” provided was laughable: I was told to ask friends or look on social media for jobs. No guidance, no real help. The office was depressing, the staff uninterested, and the whole experience felt like punishment, not support. Why even bother coming here if they treat you like a burden?

⭐ 1 star

“The justice system is broken — and they’re defending the failure, not fixing it.”

For 15 months I’ve been dragged through an absolute nightmare with HMCTS after winning a small claims case. The enforcement process was a complete disaster — and no one would take responsibility.

Emails went ignored. The court system bounced me between departments. I was told to chase the bailiffs myself. A £150 “goodwill payment” was offered for all the stress and failure — but even that hasn’t been paid. I gave my bank details as requested. Nothing. Silence.

When I raised this with Beth Collins, the Operations Manager, her response was a textbook example of bureaucratic arrogance:

“We regret the inconvenience caused.”
That’s how they brush off 15 months of incompetence and outright obstruction. They defended a staff member who ignored multiple emails by saying she was “on authorised leave.” No apology. No action. Just a shrug and a shutdown.

This isn’t justice. It’s a decaying system run by people trained to deny and deflect. They don’t help you — they protect themselves. It took me months to even get a reply, and when it came, it felt like a template designed to wear me down.

If you think going through the courts will get you justice, think again. Winning your case is only the start of the fight — HMCTS will make sure you pay for daring to expect enforcement.

A disgrace to the very concept of justice.

Absolutely terrible site. Not user friendly. Extremely confusing and dumb.

Customer service is shocking – impossible to get through to anyone who can actually help. Endless delays, no updates, and when things go wrong they take no responsibility. A taxpayer‑funded service shouldn’t treat people this badly. Needs serious reform.

I overpaid my taxes. Trying to get a refund has been problematic. The HM Revenue and Customs website won't accept the data I enter. I have tried several times and have sent four emails to support to try and resolve the problem. Each time I get fobbed off with replies that clearly show my emails have not been properly read. I could not have been clearer in explaining the problem. This is unacceptable.

Terrible! It’s case sensitive which is annoying when your trying to copy and paste, it’s almost like they are deliberately trying to make it difficult to sign in!

This is what institutionalised incompetence looks like. After 35 years of work, I find myself terminally ill.
I applied for the benefits to which im entitled in OCTOBER 2024. It is now JULY 25 and no one can update me on progress.

I'm absolutely certain i will never see a penny after paying tax for 35 years.

I am reliant on food banks and have been unable to afford heating for 3 years

Dwp refuses to respond to complaints and breaches every tenet of its customer charter.

A diabolical disgrace

Perhaps I should leave and come back in on a little boar for the fast-track star treatment.

English people it's so idiots...im 12 years in london and still can't take my driver license...after to send million times and diferent ways my prove of identity this idiots still ask stupid questions...so stupid they vote brexit to kick us out and guess what??we still here and more and more people come work...plus the ones already working illegally...stupid and ignorant people

The office of the public guardian were meant to return my application but sent me one belonging to someone else if I have got theirs where is mine

An absolutely dire service, particularly for litigants in person; perhaps, deliberately so. I bitterly regret issuing proceedings, as there’s literally no service to be had: It’s not possible to telephone my local court and the centralised call service is diabolical. I was waiting for two hours to pay a court fee, only to be cut off. On another occasion, I was told that no assistance could be provided with an urgent matter because it was more than 24 hours until the hearing. I was also told that, if I sent a chasing letter to the court, it would be destroyed. No access to justice means no enforceable rights or standards, as many are now discovering.

The apprenticeship scheme is completely corrupted. They reject your applications based on criteria never mentioned in the advertisement e.g. current location not near enough to job site according to ??someone's liking??.

What a useless site, doesnt work correctly, outdated, its by design to make life harder for you.

I cannot believe the rebranding effort which moved the dot to look like a hyphen and cost £500,000.
DONT WASTE MY MONEY

Renewing a driving license is a terrible experience. From my laptop, to my phone, to my laptop again. To then be refused after an hour of trying … come on.. what a waste of time for a terrible website and UX.

Driving licence renewal it a ridiculous service. Tons of questions and they are not able to verify my identity anyway. In the end I'll go to the post office old style because it's the only thing that works.
Shame on you!

Log in to Land registry failed in spite of using correct email and p/w, which were fine previously. Incapable of sending an email to reset password and when you email them, you get the normal Gov't crap auto reply that they will respond in 5-20 working days.

The driving test system is a disgrace. No available dates for over a year, and we’re being told not to use agents, yet third parties charge extortionate fees just to get a date. It’s emotionally draining, financially unfair, and completely broken. People are being pushed to the edge. I’m a single mum just trying to get on my feet and this is making things worse. DVSA needs to fix this.