GOV.UK start page
Mentioning the TRA
We know that that some users do not know who the TRA is and what their role is in serious misconduct cases.
“There's no context on this page - who is it I’m complaining to?”
We’ve updated the start page content to say that:
- users will be reporting serious misconduct to the TRA
- the TRA will only investigate cases if they’re serious enough to potentially result in a prohibition order
- the TRA may not investigate cases if the user has not followed the school’s complaints procedure
We also link to the TRA’s GOV.UK page if users want to find out more.
Complaining to the school
The information about complaining to the school or other organisation before making a referral was confusing to some users. They were not sure what the correct process was and where in the process our service sits.
“Does that mean all of them? Or any one of them?”
“You've followed all of these things, then DfE, then you're allowed to do it online, is that right? You've got to make it clear whether it's either/or.”
So, we’ve moved this section further down the page and simplified it so it’s not presented as a series of steps users must follow (for example, first complain to the school, then your local authority, then the DfE, then use the service). We’ve also included a link to the Complain about a school page which has information about complaining to the DfE, Ofsted and local authorities.
Before you start
We’ve included information around anonymity, data retention, and the fact that referrers may need to attend a hearing in the Before you start section.
We currently display this information 6 pages into the user journey, but some research participants expressed concern when they read it, saying:
“50 years, is that something I would want? It would definitely make me think twice."
“There's definitely circumstances that would cause me to give second thoughts to my complaint.”
We hope that by including this information on the start page we can spare users a surprise later in the journey.
Making a complaint
Some users found the page which tells them to make a complaint before they make a referral confusing, saying they:
- were not sure what the difference was between the ‘complain to the DfE’ button and the continue making a referral text link
- expected the ‘Complain to the DfE’ green button to take them to the next page in the journey
- thought there were too many options, and it wasn’t clear how they differed and which they should choose and when
“I'm not sure what the difference is there between ‘Complain to the DfE’ and 'I still want to refer’. I thought that’s what we were doing.”
We’ve since:
- simplified the content and removed the option to complain to the DfE as the GOV.UK page we link to has that information
- added that users can make a referral without complaining first, but the TRA might not investigate if the school’s complaints procedure has not been followed
We’ve also kept the option to continue making a referral as a text link as this is not the primary action we want users to take at this point.
Who the allegation is about
This page was not well understood by users. They did not know what ‘unsupervised teaching’ meant, and said it was not clear who could or could not be referred using the service.
“Unsupervised - does that mean in a room alone with kids? I think that's the only way it makes sense, so yes, I'd include volunteers.”
“Doesn't always have to be about the teacher, could be anyone working or employed by the school.”
They were also confused by the duplicate content on the following page if they selected ‘I’m not sure’.
After hearing from the Teacher Misconduct Unit that they do not have a definition for ‘unsupervised teaching’, we removed that phrase from the page.
We also simplified the content around how the TRA defines teachers’ responsibilities and added a section on who users cannot refer.
Finally, we removed the ‘I’m not sure’ radio button from the page. We hope that by improving the content and telling users who they cannot refer, we will see a drop in 'non teacher’ referrals.
Next steps
We need to test the new content with users.
We also need to talk with GDS about getting the start page updated. This is being led by a TRA colleague.