Mrs H complained to the Ombudsman about Powys County Council’s procedures for the deferral of school entry for summer born children. Mrs H said that the Council’s ‘Children and Young People Educated Out of Year Group’ Policy (“the Policy”) was unsuitable for summer born children. Mrs H said that the Council did not review the evidence she submitted to support her application to defer her son’s school entry.
The Ombudsman found that the Council’s decision to reject Mrs H’s application was properly made. However, the Ombudsman was concerned that the Policy used in the Council’s complaint response did not apply to Mrs H’s son, and therefore the complaint response was not appropriate. The Ombudsman said that the Policy did not clearly set out who it applied to.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to apologise to Mrs H for the lack of clarity in its complaint response, issue a revised complaint response, and review the Policy within 20 working days.