Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s role in issuing fixed penalty notices concerning her child’s absences from school in term-time. The authority to issue the notices belongs to the headteacher of the child’s school, and the Council’s role is only ancillary to that. We cannot investigate the actions of the school.

The complaint

1. Mrs X said she received fixed penalty notices and a notice of court action when her child was not in school due to visits to another country during term-time. She said the Council’s guidance was inadequate and it was effectively shielding the school’s headteacher.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)
4. We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools unless it relates to special educational needs, when the schools are acting on behalf of the council to secure educational provision as set out in Section F of the young person’s Education, Health and Care Plan.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Government regulations that cover the issue of fixed penalty notices state that authority to issue the notices belongs to schools. Only a headteacher or an authorised deputy or assistant headteacher may do so. It is also solely a matter for a school to determine whether an absence is unauthorised.
8. Where a parent takes a child out of school during term time for a visit or holiday, the Council’s role is ancillary. It issues a fixed penalty notice if requested to do so by a school, and then a notice of court action if there is no response to the notice. We are only likely to investigate a Council’s actions if it issues a fixed penalty notice that is factually incorrect in the sense of errors in dates or the child’s details.
9. In this case, the headteacher of the child’s school asked the Council on several occasions to issued fixed penalty notices. Whether the headteacher was right is not a matter we can legally investigate. Nor can we consider the effect of the interpretation of any published Council guidance on the headteacher’s decisions. I note the Council accepted Mrs X had not received one fixed penalty notice due to a postal issue and withdrew the subsequent notice of court action. That the Council uses the post is not a matter of fault.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the substantive matter concerns the actions of a school that we are legally prevented from investigating. The role of the Council is only ancillary to that.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman