The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place for her son. This is because the Council has now offered a place and so an investigation could not achieve anything more.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X, complained about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place for her son.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether an independent school admissions appeals panel’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider if there was fault in the way the decision was reached. If we find fault, which calls into question the panel’s decision, we may ask for a new appeal hearing. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because the Council has now offered a place which is the outcome Miss X wanted. We will not therefore investigate because we could not achieve anything more.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman