Summary: We cannot investigate part of Miss X’s complaint about the decision not to authorise holidays for her children during term-time. The decision was made by a school, and the law says we cannot investigate. We will not investigate the remainder of Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement in issuing penalty notices for non-attendance at school because there is not enough evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about penalty notices she received because she took her children out of school, specifically about;
1. the school’s decision not to authorise the absences;
2. the Council’s involvement in issuing the penalty notices; and
3. the Council’s handling of her complaint.
2. Miss X said the matters caused distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. In May 2025 Miss X took her children out of school to attend a wedding. Miss X said this was a religious obligation. Miss X complained about the school’s decision not to authorise the absences. She said it had previously suggested it would authorise them.
9. The school recorded the absences as ‘Code G: Holiday not granted by the school’ and asked the Council to issue penalty notices.
10. This decision was made by the school and therefore we cannot investigate. As outlined in paragraph five, we cannot investigate complaints about schools.
11. The available evidence suggests the Council issued the penalty notices following the request from the school. The Council confirmed it issued them in July 2025. It gave a 28-day period for Miss X to pay, in line with statutory guidance.
12. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman. Therefore, we will not investigate.
13. As we will not investigate the substantive matters of the complaint, we will not investigate the Council’s handling of the complaint because it is not proportionate to do so.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate part of Miss X’s complaint about the decision to record her children’s absences as unauthorised because the law says we cannot. For the remainder of the complaint, there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman