Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (21 005 168)

Category : Education > School admissions

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 20 Jul 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We cannot consider Mr X’s complaint about an unsuccessful school admission appeal for his daughter. This is because the law prevents us from considering complaints about admission appeals for academy schools.

The complaint

  1. Mr X complains about an unsuccessful school admission appeal for his daughter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
  2. 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

  1. I considered Mr X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information he provided. I also considered information from the Council.

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What I found

  1. The exception at paragraph 3 applies to Mr X’s complaint. The school Mr X appealed for a place at is an academy school. We have no powers to consider admission appeals for academy schools. Mr X should complain to the Education, Skills and Funding Agency as the body responsible for considering such complaints.

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Final decision

  1. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because the law prevents us from considering complaints about admission appeals for academy schools.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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