Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss B’s complaint about the decision to refuse her appeal for a school place for her daughter. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault on the Council’s part.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss B, complains that the Council’s school admission appeal panel has refused her appeal for a school place for her daughter.

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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 cannot question whether an independent school admission 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered what Miss B has said in support of her complaint and the application and appeal documents provided by the Council.

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What I found

4. Miss B applied to move her children between schools. The school she applied for had a space for her son in Year 4, which she accepted. There were no places available in Year 2, so the Council refused her application for a place for her daughter.
5. Miss B appealed against the Council’s decision. In support of her appeal, she asked the appeal panel to allow her daughter to join her son at the school. She was unable to attend the appeal hearing.
6. The appeal panel refused Miss B’s appeal. Miss B says this has caused her significant problems in getting her children to two schools. She wants the Council to reconsider the matter and award her daughter a place at the school.
7. Independent school admission appeals panels must follow the law when considering an appeal. The law says the size of an infant class must not be more than 30 pupils per teacher. There are only limited circumstances in which more than 30 children can be admitted. There are special rules governing appeals for Reception and Years 1 and 2. Appeals under these rules are known as “infant class size appeals”. The rules say the panel must consider whether:
    

• admitting another child would breach the class size limit;
• the admission arrangements comply with the law:
• the admission arrangements were properly applied to the case:
• the decision to refuse a place was one which a reasonable authority would have made in the circumstances.

8. What is ‘unreasonable’ is a high test. The panel needs to be sure that to refuse a place was “perverse” or “outrageous”. For that reason panels rarely find an admission authority’s decision to be unreasonable. The Ombudsman does not question the merits of decisions properly taken. The panel is entitled to come to its own judgment about the evidence it hears.
9. The clerk’s notes of Miss B’s appeal hearing show that the panel considered the correct matters and came to a view on them. There is no evidence of fault in the way it did so. The weight panel members gave to the evidence was a matter for their judgement.
10. Without evidence of fault in the way the panel made its decision, the Ombudsman cannot criticise the decision or intervene to substitute an alternative view. The Ombudsman will not therefore investigate Miss B’s complaint.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman