Bath and North East Somerset Council (26 006 235)
Category : Education > School admissions
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about an email because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about an email from the Council which he says caused him stress, frustration and wasted his time. He is unhappy with the Council’s response to his complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr and Mrs X are separated. They both applied for a school place for their son. The Council said it could only consider one application and asked one parent to withdraw their application. The Council’s email included options in case parents could not agree.
- Mr X takes exception to the Council’s email. He says there is no disagreement between himself and Mrs X. Mrs X withdrew her application. Mr X made a complaint about the Council’s email. He believes the Council should be able to “merge” applications rather than requiring one parent to withdraw.
- There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation. The Council’s published information for parents makes it clear the Council will only accept one application. If Mr X found the Council’s email comments unhelpful, he could have ignored them.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman