Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a school waiting list and application. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to appeal the Council’s decision not to grant a place for his child at their preferred school. They have not been caused an injustice by the Council temporarily removing D’s name from a school waiting list.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, says the Council has not administered a school waiting list properly and should not have refused his child a place at their preferred school.

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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:
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify the cost of our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Mr X provided with his complaint which included the Council’s reply. Mr X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

4. Mr X says in December 2018 he applied for a place for his child, D, at a different school to the one they currently attend. The school is full. Mr X understood D had been placed on the waiting list.
5. Mr X says he asked for an update from June 2019 onwards, but the Council delayed in telling him. He says the Council gave him confusing information on the waiting list position.
6. The Council, in reply to his complaint, confirmed it had mistakenly taken D off the waiting list. It says no allocations were made during the period D was not on the list. It has refused to escalate Mr X’s complaint as it says he has lost out on nothing. Mr X says D’s education has been damaged.

Analysis

7. The Council has an appeal process for parents to use when a Council has refused an application for a school place. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to use that appeals process if he disagrees with the decision to refuse a place.
8. We will not investigate a complaint unless Mr X has been caused a significant personal injustice because of Council fault. Mr X’s annoyance is not enough injustice to justify an investigation. If D has not missed a place because of not being on the waiting list, there is no significant injustice to Mr X.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X has not been caused an injustice by the alleged Council fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman