Making a complaint to your school age child's childcare service or activity

The County Council does not have authority over childcare services and activities (from the private, voluntary and independent sector) in the complaints process

If you have concerns that your child or another child is being abused or neglected refer to Report Child Abuse.

When to complain to the childcare service / activity (i.e., breakfast club, after school club, holiday club, childminder or activity club)

Contact the childcare service / activity club if you are concerned about issues such as:

special educational needs provision
your child’s health and wellbeing
bullying
something that has happened in the childcare service or activity

You should also contact the childcare service / activity club about wider issues such as:

the overall running of the childcare service / activity club
childcare service/ activity club policies (including rules)

How to complain to the childcare service / activity club: Speak to the relevant member of staff as soon as you have a concern. For a childcare service this may be the breakfast, afterschool or holiday club leader, or childminder. For an activity club this might be the manager, play or group leader. This informal approach is often the quickest and most effective way of resolving your concerns.

If you feel that your concern has not been answered, ask the childcare service or activity club for details of its complaints procedure. This will explain what you should do next.
If you need to take your complaint further – Ofsted registered childcare services: If you have exhausted the childcare service complaints process, and still think that they have acted unreasonably or not followed the correct procedures in relation to your complaint, you can contact either Ofsted or Services for Young Children, Hampshire County Council.

You can complain to Ofsted if you think a childcare service is not being managed properly and needs inspecting. Ofsted does not investigate issues relating to individual children. For example, it does not investigate complaints about a child being excluded from the childcare service or not being offered a place.

You can complain to Ofsted if you have already followed the childcare service own complaints procedure. You should get a response within 30 working days. Ofsted will tell you if they will investigate or not, and why.
If you need to take your complaint further – non-Ofsted registered activity clubs taking part in the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) scheme: If you have exhausted the activity group complaints process, and still think that they have acted unreasonably or not followed the correct procedures in relation to your complaint, you can contact Services for Young Children.