how to

The GTC's regulatory role covers serious failures in professional conduct or competence. If you have concerns about the conduct of your child's teacher or the competence of their teaching, your starting point is not the GTC but the head teacher of your school. Where the concerns are serious and found to be proved, the teacher is likely to be subject to their employer's disciplinary procedures.

If a teacher has been dismissed as a result of an employer’s disciplinary procedures, their employer - usually the local authority - must refer the case to the GTC as the teacher's regulatory body. Such a referral can mean that the GTC may take disciplinary action against the teacher; and ultimately, that they may be barred from teaching altogether in maintained schools.

If you complain to the school and are not happy with the school's response, ask about the school's complaints procedure and the role played by its governing body.

In cases of misconduct, it is possible for parents to complain directly to the GTC. However, before considering such a complaint the GTC will check which local routes have been used first.

Under current law, members of the public are not able to complain directly to the GTC about a teacher's lack of competence. This route is only available for misconduct cases. Such concerns should be taken up with the school in the first instance.

The GTC does not cover child protection, such as a teacher alleged to have committed a sexual offence against children. However, cautions or convictions for other criminal acts are also considered by the GTC after any cases which might raise child protection issues have been dealt with separately by the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

To make a complaint to the GTC

• Our very strong advice is that you raise the matter first with the school, using local complaints procedures if you are not satisfied with the outcome. Remember that most concerns about a teacher will be matters which are capable of being resolved by the employer and that the most serious, which result in dismissal, must be referred to the GTC anyway. Referral under local procedures is likely to mean that there is evidence which the GTC can draw on.
• Subject to this, you may wish to contact the GTC to request a complaint form for each individual registered teacher. But remember that the GTC’s role is to consider whether the teacher is guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and not to resolve other concerns about the running of the education service.
• Complete, sign and return the form, enclosing all the relevant evidence to support your complaint, including a concise outline of the matters that you consider to be unacceptable professional conduct, any further information and/or supporting evidence that you may have in relation to your complaint.
• On receipt of your complaint the GTC will schedule your case for the next available Preliminary Consideration Meeting, which will decide whether there is basis to pursue the matter further. 

Any member of the public is entitled to be told whether or not a teacher is registered with the GTC. Contact the registration helpdesk with the teacher's full name and the school where they are employed. If we are able to uniquely identify a record for that teacher from the information that you have provided, we will confirm whether they are registered on a yes/no basis.

• email: registration@gtce.org.uk

If a GTC hearing disciplines a teacher, this will be immediately signalled on the teacher's entry on the register. If the teacher applies to a new school, the head teacher or local authority will check the GTC register as part of the appointments process. There are safeguards to make sure that teachers who have been disciplined cannot simply move to another state school.

A teacher cannot apply to be reinstated until two years after a GTC hearing has found against them. Their application will then be formally considered and all available evidence taken into account.

Anyone who has received, or has asked for, any GTC services, can make a complaint. We hope that we can sort out most complaints when they are first made.

The GTC will treat any information you, or someone dealing with the complaint on your behalf, give us in the strictest confidence and in line with the conditions of the Data Protection Act 1998. We will only use the information to deal with your complaint and to monitor our complaints procedure.

Stage 1: First step in making a complaint
Speak or write to the person who first dealt with the issue, or contact their manager. If you do not know the name of their manager, ask our Teacher Enquiry Service (TES), email info@gtce.org.uk or phone 0370 0010308. Lines are open weekdays only, at these times:

Monday - Thursday: 8.30am to 6pm
Friday: 8.30am to 5pm

In your complaint you must include :

• your full name
• your address
• your date of birth.

If you are a registered teacher, please also provide:

• your teacher reference number (TRN); or
• your national insurance (NI) number.

You must make the complaint initially, but you can ask that someone else follows it through for you. You will need to give us their full name and contact details.

Let us know if you need an interpreter to make your complaint or if you need help of any other kind. We will try to provide this within seven working days.

Set out why you want to complain, and include as much detail aspossible. The manager will investigate the complaint and will try to sort the problem out as quickly as possible. We will let you know how long the investigation is likely to take.

Stage 2: Contact the complaints officer
If your complaint cannot be sorted out at stage 1, you will need to write to the GTC complaints officer at:
The Complaints Officer
General Teaching Council for England
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham
B2 4AJ

You must include:

• your full name
• your address
• your phone number
• your email address
• the main aspects of your complaint
• the name of the GTC staff member who dealt with stage 1
• details of why you believe the complaint wasn’t dealt with satisfactorily
• any other information you believe will help the complaints officer

If you are a registered teacher, please also provide:

• your teacher reference number (TRN)
• or your national insurance (NI) number.

The complaints officer will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. They will try to send you a full response within 20 working days.

If your complaint is complicated, the complaints officer may not be able to fully examine your complaint within 20 working days. Instead they will send you a response showing why there is a delay, what has been done so far, and the next steps, including when you can expect a full reply.

The decision of the complaints officer will tell you what the GTC plansto do about the issues raised in your complaint. We hope you will be happy with this decision. However, if you are not happy, you can take your complaint to stage 3.

Stage 3: Involving the GTC chief executive
If you are unhappy with the stage 2 decision, you can send a copy of the complaints officer’s decision to the GTC chief executive and say why you are not happy with it. Write to:
The Chief Executive
General Teaching Council for England
Whittington House
19-30 Alfred Place
London
WC1E 7EA

The chief executive will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and try to send you a full response within 20 working days.

If your complaint is particularly complicated, the chief executive may not be able to fully examine your complaint within 20 working days. Instead you will be sent a response showing why there is a delay, what has been done so far, and the next steps, including when you can expect a full reply.

The chief executive's decision is final.

Visit the employment opportunities page to see all current vacancies.

To find out if you have full registration contact the Teacher Enquiry Service.

• phone: 0370 0010308
• email: registration@gtce.org.uk

To apply for full registration with the GTC you will need to complete an 'application to register' form and a direct debit instruction. We need to have original signatures on both forms, so please complete them and send a signed copies to Registration Team at:

General Teaching Council for England
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham
B2 4AJ

When we have processed your application we will send you a confirmation letter and your GTC registration card by post.

Since 20 January 2009, employers have been required to refer cases relating to registered teachers to one of two bodies:

• the GTC
• the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

Referral to either body is a statutory requirement.

The GTC deals with cases where where no issues concerning the safety or welfare of children are raised and where a registered teacher is dismissed for misconduct or incompetence, or resigns in circumstances where dismissal may otherwise have been considered.

All such referrals should be sent to: 

Alan Sweeney or Sharon Timmins
Investigating Team Leader
The General Teaching Council
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham
B2 4AJ

Contact details

Alan Sweeney
tel: 0121 345 0065
email: alan.sweeney@gtce.org.uk

Sharon Timmins
Tel:  0121 345 0044.
email: sharon.timmins@gtce.org.uk 

All referrals should be accompanied by the following documentation, as listed in the schedule to Regulation 29 of the General Teaching Council for England (Disciplinary Functions) Regulations 2001 (as amended).  

1. Letter or notice terminating a registered teacher's employment.
2. Statement of reasons for dismissal.
3. Employer's records relating to the dismissal or any contemplated dismissal, including notes and minutes of meetings, interview notes, and evidence supplied to or obtained by the employer.
4. Employer's records relating to conduct which eventually led to a registered teacher's dismissal or would but for his resignation have led his employer to dismiss or consider dismissing him, including notes and minutes of meetings, interview notes, and evidence supplied to or obtained by the employer.
5. Employer's letters, warnings or notices issued to a registered teacher in relation to his dismissal or contemplated dismissal, or the conduct which eventually led to his dismissal or would but for his resignation have led his employer to dismiss or consider dismissing him, and his replies or representations in relation thereto.
6. Any other statements, representations and evidence submitted by a registered teacher to his employer in relation to his dismissal or contemplated dismissal, or the conduct which eventually led to his dismissal or would but for his resignation have led his employer to dismiss or consider dismissing him.
7. Letter of resignation.
8. Any other document or information which the employer considers is relevant to an Investigating Committee's investigation or proceedings being taken by a Committee against a registered teacher.  

Referral to the ISA
Where an individual is dismissed for misconduct (where an issue concerning the safety or welfare of children is raised), unsuitability to work with children or on health grounds, or resigns in circumstances where such a dismissal may otherwise have been considered, the case should be sent to:

The Independent Safeguarding Authority
PO Box 181
Darlington
DL1 9FA

tel: switchboard 0300 123 1111. 

Further details of the referral procedure, including the form accompanying any referral, can be found on the ISA website.

Details of disciplinary orders and decisions are published as soon as possible after they have been made, including the:

• teacher’s name
• teacher's reference number (TRN)
• allegations made against the teacher
• sanction(s) imposed by the disciplinary committee.

These details stay on the website until three months after the decision was made.

Employers can use the Employer Access service to view the Record of Decisions which includes cumulative details of all past disciplinary cases.

To use Employer Access you need to be set up an account with the GTC.

• email: employeraccess@gtce.org.uk
• phone: 0370 001 4823
  

GTC staff are available to meet with local authorities (LAs) to speak about the work of the GTC. This could be useful if you or your staff are new to human resources work for schools and you would like support to carry out your statutory requirements.

The GTC can:

• meet human resources and finance managers at individual LAs
• attend regional networks of human resources and finance managers
• meet LA governor trainers to discuss how the work of the GTC is communicated to school governors.

Contact:

• Alan Newland, GTC Public Relations Manager
• phone: 020 7023 3928
• email: employerbulletin@gtce.org.uk

You can subscribe to a termly email newsletter for Employers. This newsletter provides updates on registration, regulation and fee payment issues. Email us to subscribe.

• email: employerbulletin@gtce.org.uk

Details of forthcoming hearings, including the name and school of the referred teacher, are published on this website three working days before the hearing is due to take place.

The GTC publishes an annual digest of statistics taken from the Teaching Register. This includes information about gender, age, ethnicity and the number of teachers in employment in England. If you have any statistical enquires not covered by the digest contact the media office who will be pleased to help you.

Hearings are held in the GTC's Birmingham office. Most are held in public and decisions of those hearings are always made public. If you would like to attend a hearing, please contact the media office.

• email: media@gtce.org.uk

To receive press releases or parliamentary briefings, please contact the media office providing your name, name of your publicaiton if appropriate, phone number and email address. Also indicate any area of particular interest.

• email: media@gtce.org.uk

The media office is staffed Monday to Friday during office hours. Outside these hours, journalists with urgent enquiries can contact members of the team on their mobile phones.

• Siobhan Lincoln, Press Office Administrator: 07917 000236
• Fiona Armstrong, Press Officer: 07825 842937