Proposed changes to the parental complaints system 鈥渟top short鈥� of providing the powers schools need to enforce them, legal experts have warned. The government has announced it will create a 鈥渄igital, accessible solution鈥� for handling complaints, with new expectations aimed at improving relations between parents and leaders. More than were made by parents in the past year, according to ParentKind. A听Schools Week听investigation found headteachers 鈥渨eren鈥檛 sleeping鈥� due to stress over complaints, with many generated by artificial intelligence.听 The schools white paper said heads and parents have been 鈥渓eft to navigate this largely on their own foot for far too long鈥�, and that it will 鈥渋mprove the consistency and impact of the engagement鈥� between them. It said the new digital platform will improve data collection and stop complaints being escalated through multiple avenues at the same time, such as Ofsted, an individual school and the Department for Education. 鈥淢inimum expectations鈥� for home-to-school partnerships will be outlined for schools, along with a best-practice guide. The expectations will govern effective and timely communication, establishing high expectations of families, supporting transitions between stages, supporting learning at home and regular family participation in school life. ‘Advisory rather than compulsory’ While legal experts have welcomed the changes announced, some have warned that they 鈥渟top short鈥� on the powers needed to make sure parents follow the rules. Claire Archibald Claire Archibald, legal director at Browne Jacobson, welcomed the proposal to stop complaints through multiple avenues. But she said she was concerned the minimum expectations framework would 鈥渞emain advisory rather than compulsory鈥� and did not have enough 鈥渓egislative teeth鈥�. 鈥淥ur concern remains that the framework stops short of giving schools any real mechanism to enforce that balance in practice. 鈥淧arents have rights but they also have responsibilities, and although the white paper nods more clearly towards those, the question of what happens when those expectations are not met by families is not yet answered.鈥� Digital platform plans ‘unclear’ Senior associate at Winckworth Sherwood Adam Jackson said it 鈥渞emains unclear how the platform will address challenges鈥� within the existing system. Adam Jackson 鈥淔or it to be effective, schools will need a legitimate basis to require parents to submit concerns exclusively through the digital system,鈥� he said. Laura Berman, partner at Stone King LLP, said the introduction of new individual support plans, which schools will have a legal duty to produce for SEND pupils, could make the complaints process 鈥渆scalate significantly鈥�. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 no other route to challenge these individual support plans, it鈥檚 all going to come down to that complaint process. And that is going to be really, really difficult.鈥� However, experts have welcomed many parts of the proposals. 鈥淭here is a real sense that the white paper is attempting to reframe this as a two-way partnership, empowering families to understand that they are active participants in their child鈥檚 education and that engagement is something they are responsible for, not merely entitled to,鈥� Archibald said. Schools Week has asked the DfE when the digital platform will be introduced and how the minimum expectations will be enforced.