The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council’s school admission appeal panel was at fault in refusing the complainant’s appeal for a school place for her daughter. This is because there is no evidence of fault on the Council’s part.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs B, complains that the Council’s school admission appeal panel was at fault in refusing her appeal for a school place 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. 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
The complainant has had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.
My assessment
Mrs B says she applied for a school place for her daughter for September 2022 admission to the Reception year group. She says that she handed her application to the school, which lost it. As a result, she had to complete a second application which was submitted after the published closing date.
By the time the Council received Mrs B’s application, all 60 places at the school had been allocated and the application was refused. Mrs B appealed against the decision. In addition to her written appeal, she attended the hearing at which her appeal was discussed and was able to make her case in person.
The school admission appeal panel refused the appeal. Mrs B believes the panel failed to take proper account of her evidence. She wants the matter reconsidered.
School admission appeal panels must follow the law when considering an appeal. The law says the size of an infant class must not be more than 30 pupils per teacher. There are only limited circumstances in which more than 30 children can be admitted. There are special rules governing appeals for Reception and Years 1 and 2. Appeals under these rules are known as “infant class size appeals”. The rules say the panel must consider whether: admitting another child would breach the class size limit; the admission arrangements comply with the law: the admission arrangements were properly applied to the case: the decision to refuse a place was one which a reasonable authority would have made in the circumstances.
What is ‘unreasonable’ is a high test. The panel needs to be sure that to refuse a place was “perverse” or “outrageous”. For that reason, panels rarely find an admission authority’s decision to be unreasonable.
The Ombudsman does not question the merits of decisions properly taken. The panel is entitled to come to its own judgment about the evidence it hears.
The clerk’s notes of the appeal hearing and the decision letter show that Mrs B was able to make her case and the panel considered it. It chose not to accept her evidence that the school was responsible for the lateness of the application. There is no evidence of fault in the way it reached this view.
Without evidence of fault in the way the appeal panel made the decision to refuse the appeal, the Ombudsman cannot criticise the decision itself, or intervene to substitute an alternative view. There are therefore no grounds on which to investigate the complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault on the Council’s part.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman