Section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 says that a parent (or anyone else with an interest) can make a complaint to Scottish Ministers (MSPs with responsibility for certain areas) if they think a ‘responsible body’ (like a local authority) has failed to carry out one of its duties under education law, including the law relating to additional support for learning. A complaint about such a failure or failures is called a ‘section 70 complaint’

You can find out about some of the key laws relating to additional support for learning on our webpage What the law says about additional support for learning and in our Policy, legislation and guidance pages.

You can make a section 70 complaint if you think a local authority are failing to carry out an education related duty under an Act of Parliament.

You cannot use a section 70 complaint to:

Section 70 complaints are rare, because most problems can be sorted out in other ways. Schools, nurseries and local authorities should do all they can to work with and involve parents.

There are several different ways you can and should try to resolve any disagreements you have with a school, nursery or local authority before making a section 70 complaint. Find out more in our webpage Solving problems with your child’s school.

Scottish Ministers are unlikely to investigate a section 70 complaint unless you have tried other ways of resolving your disagreement.

A parent or carer, child (if they are able to understand how to), young person, legal representative or anyone else with an interest can make a section 70 complaint.

There is an application form for section 70 complaints available from the Scottish Government, along with guidance about the process. You can find the complaint form here and the guidance here. The Scottish Government guidance explains the process in more detail and has some points to consider before making a complaint.  

In the application you need to say:

If you have more than one complaint, you should say clearly which failed duty your evidence relates to.

Complaints should be emailed to: EdSSection70@gov.scot

The Govan Law Centre can provide free legal advice and may be able to help you submit a section 70 complaint.

Once Scottish Ministers receive your application, they must decide within 15 working days whether to investigate your complaint. Officials from the Scottish Government will help the Scottish Ministers with the investigation process. They will use the initial 15 days to make sure that everyone understands what the complaint is about.

If Scottish Ministers decide to investigate your complaint, the Scottish Government officials will contact you and the responsible body to ask for written evidence. Scottish Ministers might also ask Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education (HMIE) to carry out their own investigation and make recommendations.

Scottish Ministers will then consider all the evidence and decide whether there has been a failure to carry out a duty. They will inform you and the responsible body you are complaining about what their decision is.

If they decide there has been a failure, they will make an order that says the responsible body must carry out the duty within a set time. Scottish Ministers will contact the responsible body to make sure it has complied with the order.

From the date your complaint is received to the date you are informed of the outcome, there should be a maximum of 105 working days.

If Scottish Ministers order a responsible body to carry out a duty, they must issue the order within the 105-working-day limit. After this, the responsible body must carry out the duty within the time limit set by Scottish Ministers.