Parent complaints ‘contributing to school staff quitting’

Almost a quarter of school and trust leaders say rising parent complaints have contributed to staff leaving in the past year, a new survey finds.

Some 23 per cent of respondents said staff had left their school or trust in the past 12 months with parent complaints cited as a contributory factor, according to the survey by law firm Browne Jacobson.

A further 48 per cent said staff had considered leaving because of complaints, with senior leaders and teachers reported to be the most affected.

The findings, shared exclusively with Tes, come amid growing concerns about the volume and complexity of complaints to schools, including an increase in grievances that appear to be written using AI.

Parent complaints ‘impeding leadership’

Responding to Browne Jacobson’s spring 2026 school leaders’ survey, 45 per cent of leaders said the volume of complaints was approaching or had already reached “breaking point”.

And nine out of 10 of the 130 leaders said parents were escalating complaints more quickly than two years ago. Of these, 59 per cent said complaints were being escalated “much more quickly”, with some parents doing so immediately and without attempting informal resolution.

Victoria Hatton, a partner at Browne Jacobson, said: “The volume and complexity of parental complaints has reached a point where it is genuinely impeding school leadership.

”[Complaints] erode confidence, affect staff wellbeing and draw governors and senior leaders away from the work that matters most.”

AI-generated complaints

Schools are increasingly dealing with complaints that appear to have been written or strengthened by AI tools, the survey suggests.

Some 45 per cent of survey respondents said they had seen an increase in complaints that appeared to be AI-generated or AI-enhanced.

And 81 per cent said such complaints had a more formal or legal tone, requiring greater professional resources to respond.

A further 71 per cent said parents were including AI-generated legal references or precedents in their complaints, while 63 per cent said parents were less likely to engage in dialogue once AI had been used to draft a complaint.

Calls for stronger rules

The government’s schools White Paper, published in February, included proposals aimed at easing the pressure from rising complaints in schools.

There was strong support among the leaders surveyed for clearer guidance on handling vexatious complaints. There was also demand for updated guidance to help parents understand the complaints process, as well as the clear setting out of mutual expectations and timeframes for resolutions.

However, leaders want stronger measures than those proposed by the government.

Some 72 per cent said there should be a statutory definition of vexatious complaints, while 58 per cent backed a mandatory sequencing requirement to prevent parents from bypassing informal stages.

Ms Hatton said: “Schools need clear, enforceable mechanisms that allow them to draw a line under complaints that have run their course, and to protect staff from conduct that would not be tolerated in any other professional context.”

The survey also points to a training gap in schools’ ability to manage difficult conversations with parents.

More than half of respondents said fewer than 10 per cent of staff had received role-appropriate training in the past 12 months on handling difficult conversations with parents or parent complaints.