Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council failing to provide information to her about school admissions. She wanted a place at an Academy and we cannot investigate their admissions process.

The complaint

1. Ms X says the Council failed to provide her with appropriate information about schools’ admissions which she says means she missed out on a school place.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as Academies. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X is B’s mother. B attended primary school in the year below their age group. Ms X says when the Council and primary school agreed B could do so, they told it would just transfer through to senior school. Ms X applied in B’s year 6, for a senior school place from September 2024. The school Ms X preferred refused to offer B a place in year 7 because of their age.
7. Ms X says the Council should have told her at the beginning of year 5 they had to apply that year, because B was not in their school age group.
8. Ms X says the effect of the Council fault, is that she was unable to get a place at their preferred school, an academy. We cannot investigate why the Academy refused the place, including why it did not consider the potential misinformation to be a good enough reason to accept B into year 7 in September 2024. We cannot obtain a place or a new appeal for Ms X at the Academy. The Council cannot force the Academy to offer a place. We therefore cannot investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we cannot investigate why an Academy did not offer her a place for B at its school.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman