Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council refusing to award her child medical priority in a school admissions application as she has appealed to the appeals panel. We will not investigate a 14 day delay as its not sufficient to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council should have qualified her child for its ‘exceptional social/ medical need’ in its school admissions process. She says it delayed too long in reviewing this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Miss X which included the Council’s reply to her complaint.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X applied for a school place for her child, Y to start in reception in September 2026. She asked for Y to be granted exceptional social/ medical priority. The Council did not do so. She asked for this to be reviewed. The Council reviewed it, but its decision remained the same. Miss X has appealed the decision not to allocate a place at her preferred school to the school’s admissions appeals panel.
7. The law provides parents with a right of appeal of a decision not to allocate a place at their preferred school to a school admissions appeals panel, who are considered a Tribunal. We usually consider it is reasonable to expect parents to appeal and Miss X has done so here. We cannot therefore consider why the Council did not allocate the place. The appeal can include whether the Council has used the correct admissions criteria for Y.
8. Miss X says the Council’s review was delayed by 14 days during which she had no communication from the Council. She says she found this very stressful. On its own a 14 day gap in communication, or delay, is not significant enough to justify our investigation.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because she has appealed the Council’s decision not to award a school place to a school’s admissions appeals panel. And a 14 day delay is not sufficient enough to justify our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman