Summary: Mrs C complained that a school admissions appeal panel did not take proper account of her circumstances. The Council has offered a fresh appeal. The Ombudsman has therefore discontinued investigation of this complaint, as it is unlikely that further investigation would result in a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs C, complains the Council’s appeal for a Year 7 school place for her child was not conducted fairly and that the appeal panel did not take proper account of her circumstances.

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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’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered all the information submitted by Mrs C about her complaint. I made written enquiries of the Council. I provided Mrs C and the Council with a draft of this decision and took account of responses received.

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What I found

The application and appeal

4. Mrs C applied for a Year 7 place for her daughter X, to start in September 2019, expressing a preference for School A. The Council offered an alternative school. In its offer letter it said it could not offer School A because it had allocated up to the admissions number with children who had higher priority under the admissions criteria. She was given a right of appeal.
5. Mrs C submitted an appeal request, and the matter progressed to a hearing at which Mrs C had the opportunity to set out and explain her grounds for appeal.
6. The appeal clerk’s notes of the decision making do not refer to consideration given to Mrs C circumstances, other than in the form of a checklist which was marked for various listed categories including dissatisfaction with the allocated school and domestic arrangements.
7. The appeal outcome letter issued to Mrs C said the panel had taken into account all the points made by Mrs C “which included:- the dissatisfaction you expressed with the school offered to your child; the strength of your representation for admission to your preferred school, bearing in mind there are places available for your child in other schools in the area; the medical circumstances relating to [X]’s sister outlined in your submission; and your domestic arrangements”. It then said: “However, having considered your case on its merits, the Panel did not consider there were special circumstances or overriding considerations in the case, and was satisfied that the degree of prejudice to the provision of efficient education and use of resources was such that it was not appropriate to allocate a place for your child at this school”.

Analysis

8. The statutory guidance in the School admissions appeals code says clerk must ensure an accurate record is taken of the points raised at the hearing, including the proceedings, attendance, voting and reasons for decisions.
9. If the clerk’s contemporaneous notes are poor and do not properly record the hearing, the panel’s decision-making and/or the panel’s voting; or if the clerk’s decision letter following the appeal fails to provide the reasons for the panel’s decision, or fails to refer to and/or address an important point relied on by the parents, that is fault. The clerk’s notes and the decision letter I have seen in this case do not show how the panel considered Mrs C’s submissions about her difficulties and reached its decision taking her representations into account.

Agreed action

10. Responding to my enquiries on the complaint, taking account of the above the Council agreed to offer Mrs C a fresh appeal. Although the Council says it is satisfied the errors were in record keeping and not in the decision-making itself, a fresh appeal with a new panel should be treated as wholly new and should not be influenced by the previous finding.
11. If I were to investigate this complaint further and find fault in the way the panel had considered the appeal, the action I would be most likely to recommend the Council take in order to remedy the fault, would be to arrange a fresh appeal hearing with a new panel. As the Council has agreed to offer this, there is nothing to be gained by me investigating the complaint further.

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Final decision

12. I have discontinued my investigation on the basis set out above.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman