Summary: A parent complained about the decisions of two school admission appeal panels to refuse her appeals for places for her daughter at two academy schools. But we cannot investigate this matter as we are precluded by law from considering complaints about appeals for academy schools.

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. In particular, we investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. But we cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as school academies, or school admission appeal panels which consider appeals for academies. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Miss B provided with her complaint. I also gave Miss B an opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

5. C was due to start at secondary school in September 2020. When Miss B applied for a secondary school place she listed three preferences, including School X and School Y. However C was not offered a place at any of Miss B’s preferred schools.
6. Miss B appealed about the refusal decisions in all three cases. The Schools in question asked the Council to organise independent appeal panels on their behalf. However all of Miss B’s appeals were unsuccessful. She then complained to us about the panels’ decisions regarding School X and School Y.

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Analysis

7. However, I have concluded that we are prevented by law from investigating Miss B’s complaint.
8. The Council organised the appeals Miss B complains about. But it did this on behalf of School X and School Y. The Schools are their own admission authorities and, therefore, they are ultimately responsible for decisions about their admissions and appeal arrangements. As a result Miss B’s complaint is against the Schools rather than against the Council.
9. But School X and School Y are also academy schools, which are not maintained by the Council. We do not have a remit to investigate complaints about academies or about admission appeals for academies. Complaints about academy appeals are dealt with by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Miss B’s complaint about the school admission appeal panels’ decisions in her daughter’s case. This is because the schools in question are academy schools and the law prevents us from investigating complaints about appeals for places at academies.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman