Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO)

Good to know

Complain to the organisation first. The SPSO's news item of 5 October 2026 says there is a delay of up to 9 months in allocating some complaints to a Complaints Reviewer, so there can be a wait before a complaint is taken up. It does not normally investigate a complaint if you have known about the problem for more than 12 months before complaining, though it may look at one if certain circumstances stopped you making it earlier. It takes complaints about schools after the local complaints process, but cannot look at the giving of instruction, conduct, curriculum or discipline: it can look at whether a school applied its policies, such as those on bullying, properly. The phone line does not take calls from withheld numbers.