Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (05B03214)

School admissions                     Maladministration causing injustice

14 February 2006

‘Ms Phillips’ (not her real name for legal reasons) complained that faults in the Council’s school admissions procedures had wrongly denied her child a place at her preferred selective secondary school, and that the independent panel convened to hear her appeal against refusal of a place failed to consider properly whether the admission arrangements were sound and applied correctly.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found that the Council failed to take steps to overcome computer system failure and ensure that it co-ordinated its admission arrangements with neighbouring education authorities in accordance with the published scheme. This led to some parents receiving more than one offer of a place. When reallocating places that were not initially taken up at Ms Phillips’ preferred school, it also failed to have regard to the law and relevant codes of practice in the way its ‘waiting’ list was constructed and implemented. As a result, Ms Phillips’ child was wrongly denied a place at the school. There was unacceptable delay in the Council’s responses to the Ombudsman’s investigation.

The Ombudsman found no fault in the independent panel’s handling of Ms Phillips’ appeal.

The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and recommends that the Council offers Ms Phillips a place for her child at her preferred school, pays her £500 to recognise the impact of its actions, including delay, and reviews its admission arrangements as a matter of urgency to avoid a recurrence of the maladministration in the next and subsequent rounds of admissions.

Date Published: 23/04/09