Salford City Council (20 001 005)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries School admissions 28-Jul-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council withdrawing a nursery school place. It is unlikely we could find Mrs X has been caused a significant injustice by any Council fault.

All Saints Catholic High School (20 001 046)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries School admissions 27-Jul-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Schools Admissions Appeal Panel failed to provide her child with a place at her preferred school. It is unlikely the Ombudsman would find fault which caused her to lose out on a school place.

Leeds City Council (19 011 908)

Statement Not upheld School admissions 23-Jul-2020

Summary: Ms X complained the Council’s school admissions appeal panel was not racially diverse and made comments about her child’s race during the appeal hearing. She complained the Council delayed the appeal hearing as it sent correspondence to her previous address. The Council was not at fault for sending letters to a previous address as it was unaware Ms X had moved. Also, there was no fault in the make-up of the panel or the way it reached its decision on the appeal.

Prendergast Hilly Fields College (19 013 563)

Statement Not upheld School admissions 22-Jul-2020

Summary: Mr B complains that the school unreasonably refused his son, C, a place in the sixth form, failed to hold an appeal hearing and acted as though C had an education health care plan (EHCP) when, at the time, he did not. He says that, as a result, C missed a month of education. The Ombudsman finds no fault by the school.

St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School, Bletchley (19 007 578)

Statement Upheld School admissions 21-Jul-2020

Summary: Mr X complains about the school admission appeals panel’s decision to refuse his appeal for a reception place for his son, Y. There was some fault in how the panel considered the appeal but this did not cause Mr X an injustice.

Peterborough City Council (19 005 946)

Statement Upheld School admissions 17-Jul-2020

Summary: The Council is at fault as it delayed in responding to Mr X’s email requesting the Council call him due to his disability and then failed to call Mr X. The Council is also at fault as an officer delayed in calling Mr X, it wrongly refused to consider his complaint and failed to make reasonable adjustments when notifying Mr X of its decision on his complaint. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and make a payment of £150 to acknowledge the anxiety and frustration caused to him.

Birmingham City Council (19 009 581)

Statement Upheld School admissions 10-Jul-2020

Summary: The Council is at fault as it delayed in taking steps to find a school place for Ms X’s daughter. However, the fault by the Council did not cause significant injustice to Ms X or to Y as Ms X declined the school place offered by the Council.

Royal Borough of Greenwich (19 013 039)

Statement Upheld School admissions 28-May-2020

Summary: the Council failed to properly consider Ms B’s daughter’s case under its fair access protocol and delayed putting in place education provision for her daughter. That meant Ms B’s daughter missed out on alternative education provision for around one month longer than she should have and led to Ms B going to time and trouble to pursue her complaint. An apology, payment to Ms B for her time and trouble and payment to reflect the lost education for her daughter, along with procedural changes, is satisfactory remedy for the injustice caused.

Surrey County Council (19 019 268)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries School admissions 22-May-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council agreeing a change of school placement for the complainant’s child. This is because the complaint is made late, more than 12 months after the complainant became aware of the issue, and there are no good reasons to investigate it now.

Essex County Council (19 020 388)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries School admissions 05-May-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to the lack of a nursery place for the complainant’s son. This is because the Council is not responsible for the refusal of admission to the complainants’ preferred school, and there is no evidence of fault in its actions.