Summary: Mr and Mrs B complain about their appeal against the award of a school place for their child, C. The Council was at fault because the Independent Appeal Panel (IAP) were not provided with Mr and Mrs B’s additional evidence in time, but there was no fault in how the panel considered the appeal. Mr and Mrs B have not suffered any injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainants, whom I shall refer to as Mr and Mrs B, complain that an appeal panel did not properly consider their appeal against the award of a school place for their child, C.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. We cannot question whether an independent school admissions appeals panel’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider if there was fault in the way the decision was reached. If we find fault, which calls into question the panel’s decision, we may ask for a new appeal hearing. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have spoken to Mrs B about the complaint and considered the information she has provided to the Ombudsman. I have also considered information and documents the Council has provided.
6. I have written to Mr and Mrs B and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

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What I found

7. The Government has issued statutory guidance (the ‘Guidance’) on how schools should organise and run their pupil admissions appeals.
8. The Guidance says IAP’s must follow a two-stage decision making process. The panel must first consider the Council’s decision to refuse admission. If the panel finds the admission arrangements did comply with admissions law, that they were correctly applied and that admitting additional children would prejudice the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources, it must consider the appellant’s case. (School admission appeals code para 3.1 to 3.9)
9. The clerk must send all the papers required for the hearing to both the parties and the members of the panel a reasonable time before the date of the hearing. (School admission appeals code para 2.10)

10. Appellants must be given the opportunity to state their case without unreasonable interruption. Written material and evidence must have been seen by all parties. (School admission appeals code para 2.21)

11. The Council has published its timetable for dealing with appeals on its website. This timetable sets out that appellants can submit additional documents, information and/or evidence to the panel to support their case. The Council says this should be done at least three working days before an appeal.
12. The decision of the IAP must be communicated to the appellant no more than five days after the hearing. The decision letter must be easily understood and contain a summary of relevant factors considered by the panel as well as clear reasons for the panel’s decision. (School admission appeals code para 2.24 & 2.25)

What happened?

13. Mr and Mrs B’s child, C, was moving from primary to secondary school. Mr and Mrs B made an application in-time and listed three schools in priority order. C was awarded a place at School X, which was not listed as one of Mr and Mrs B’s choices.
14. Mr and Mrs B appealed against the decision. Mr and Mrs B’s appeal contained detailed reasons why they thought the award of a place at School X was wrong. Mr and Mrs B submitted additional evidence to the Council that C should be awarded a place at School Y, which was their first choice of school.
15. The appeal panel considered the case for both the Council and Mr and Mrs B. It wrote to Mr and Mrs B with the decision of the appeal panel.

Analysis

16. Mr and Mrs B’s appeal hearing was held on 2 May 2019. Mr and Mrs B submitted additional evidence on 26 April 2019 within the requested timeframe.
17. The IAP followed an appropriate two stage process. When the IAP began the second stage, the clerk’s notes show the IAP had not been provided with Mr and Mrs B’s additional evidence. The missing evidence included:
• References for C from his primary school, football club and mosque.
• Crime statistics, route maps and the catchment area of School Y.
• Information about School Y.
• A personal statement from C and employment information about Mr and Mrs B.
18. The IAP adjourned to obtain copies of Mr and Mrs B’s additional evidence.
19. Mr and Mrs B say that they feel they were unable to present their case effectively because the adjournment interrupted them. They say that are not certain that they gave everything to the Council when their additional evidence needed to be copied for the IAP. Mr and Mrs B also say that a question asked by the panel shows that they had not read the additional evidence they were given.
20. The clerk’s notes show the missing documents were identified and the adjournment occurred before Mr and Mrs B were able to make their representations. Whilst the adjournment was an interruption to the planned conduct of the appeal hearing, I consider that the steps taken to provide Mr and Mrs B’s additional evidence to the IAP were appropriate.
21. The clerk’s notes show that the IAP then considered issues raised by Mr and Mrs B as part of their appeal submission and additional evidence.
22. The panel also asked Mr and Mrs B questions based on their representations. The clerk’s notes show that the panel were aware of relevant additional evidence and were able to take it into account.
23. The decision letter sent to Mr and Mrs B refers to the issues raised by Mr and Mrs B as part of their appeal submission and additional evidence. It contains clear reasons for the decision.
24. To prevent a similar situation happening again, the Council says it will ensure that all evidence provided to hearings is checked in advance, clearly indicated as available and labelled so that it is available to the IAP at the start of each day.

Was the Council at fault?

25. The Council was at fault because the appeal panel were not provided with all relevant documentation from Mr and Mrs B within the timescales set out in the Guidance and the Council’s published timetable.
26. There was no fault on behalf of the IAP, because it considered all relevant issues and evidence when it made its decision about Mr and Mrs B’s appeal.

Have Mr and Mrs B suffered any injustice?

27. Mr and Mrs B have not suffered any injustice because:
• the IAP adjourned to obtain copies of Mr and Mrs B’s additional evidence before making any consideration of their representations.
• the clerk’s notes and the decision letter show the IAP considered all the available evidence when it made a decision about Mr and Mrs B’s appeal.

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Final decision

28. There was fault by the Council in how it considered Mr and Mrs B’s appeal against the award of a place for C at school X, because it did not ensure the panel had all evidence before the hearing. There is no injustice to Mr and Mrs B, because the panel considered all relevant issues and evidence Mr and Mrs B raised when it made its decision.
29. I have now completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman