AQW 41503/22-27

Mrs Michelle Guy
Alliance Party
Lagan Valley

Tabled Date: 26/02/2026
Answered On Date: 04/03/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail any (i) options open to school leaders to complain about maintenance work carried out by Education Authority approved contractors; and (ii) protocols in place to handle those complaints.

Answer:

Although there is no formal complaints process, school leaders can report issues and concerns to the Education Authority (EA) via their Area Maintenance Officer and the Maintenance Help Desk in the first instance. When required, these concerns will be escalated to Senior Managers and Head of Maintenance.

This process facilitates the reporting of poor workmanship, contractor performance and requests for follow-up inspections or rectification works.

When a complaint is made about a contractor’s performance the following protocols are followed:

EA tracking of the complaint so it can be followed up with the school leader.

Review of the contractor’s work by EA Maintenance Service against the contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPI), with penalty action if required.

Examination of job records, contractor submission documents, the Maintenance Audit regime or price lists.

If the complaint is regarding the level of workmanship, the EA invokes standard contract management controls that include the following:

Requesting clarifications from contractors.

Issuing noncompliance notices.

Requesting rework at no additional cost.

Escalating to Senior Managers and the Head of Maintenance for contractual remedies.

Going forward with the new Term Service Contracts, stakeholder engagement meetings will be held with school leaders as a formal mechanism to:

Gather feedback from schools, principals, contractors and internal maintenance teams.

Review service performance, KPIs, customer satisfaction and areas for improvement.

Provide updates on contracts, operational delivery, statutory compliance, and upcoming changes.

Ensure alignment between Maintenance Service, schools, contractors, and senior leadership