The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and so we cannot question the merits of the panel’s decision.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will call Mrs X, complains about an unsuccessful school admissions appeal she made for her daughter.
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X’s daughter (Y) is due to start primary school in September. Y has a twin brother (Z) who was undergoing an Education Health and Care (EHC) assessment. Mrs X wants Y and Z to attend the same school, School A. The Council used the School A oversubscription criteria to decide which children it would offer placed to. It did not offer places to Y or Z and instead the Council offered them places at another School, School B.
Mrs X appealed the Council’s decision not to offer Y a place at School A. She attended an online appeal hearing during which she told the panel that since she submitted her application for Y to attend School A, the Council had issued Z an EHC plan naming School A as his placement. Miss X said Z is emotionally reliant on Y and said studies showed that it was important for twins to be kept together. Mrs X also said it would be difficult to manage care and travel arrangements if the children were at different schools.
Appeal panels must follow the law when considering an appeal. They need to consider if the school’s admission arrangements comply with the law, and if they were properly applied to the appellant’s application. They need to decide if admitting a further child would “prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources”. If they think it would, they need to consider if an appellant’s arguments outweigh the prejudice to the school.
The appeal panel decided: The school’s admission arrangements complied with the law and had been properly applied to Mrs X’s application.
Admitting further children would cause prejudice.
After considering the information Mrs X had provided to the panel, it concluded the evidence put forward in support of her appeal was not strong enough to outweigh the prejudice admitting a further child would cause the school.
The panel said that whilst they were empathetic to Mrs X’s situation, it had not seen any evidence that the decision to refuse Y a place was unreasonable at the time the decision was made.
The clerk’s letter to Mrs X explained the panel’s decision I understand Mrs X is disappointed with the panel’s decision. But we are not an appeal body, and we cannot criticise decisions taken without fault.
The evidence I have seen shows the panel followed the proper process to consider the appeal. The panel considered the information provided by Mrs X and the school. It is for the panel to decide what weight should be given to each piece of evidence. The decision to refuse the appeal is one the panel was entitled to take.
Without evidence of fault in the decision-making process there are no grounds for us to become involved. That is the case here and so we will not start an investigation.
Parents are only allowed to submit one appeal for each child per academic year unless there is a material change in the circumstances of the parent child or school. Mrs X can therefore ask the Council if it will accept a fresh application on the basis that since making her original application, Z has been issued an EHC plan, which names School A. If the Council does accept a fresh application, but refuses to offer a place, Mrs X can appeal the decision. If she was unhappy with the outcome of the appeal, Mrs X could make a fresh complaint to the Ombudsman.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman