Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s school’s admissions appeal panel refusing her appeal. It is unlikely we would find fault which caused Mrs X to lose out on a school place.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the School’s admissions appeals panel should have granted her child, B, a place at School Y.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way a school admissions appeals panel made its decision. If there was no fault in how the panel made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the appeal papers.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

The appeals’ process

5. Statutory guidance about school admissions and appeals can be found in The School Admissions Code and School Admission Appeals Code. Both are published by the Department for Education. 
6. Parents/carers have the right to appeal an admission authority’s decision not to offer their child a school place.  
7. Appeal hearings must be held in private and conducted in the presence of all panel members and parties. Appeal panels must act according to the principles of natural justice. 
8. A clerk supports the appeal panel. Parents can give information in support of their appeal.
9. The admission authority must provide a presenting officer at the hearing to explain the decision not to admit the child and to answer questions from the appellant and panel. 
10. Appeal panels must allow appellants the opportunity to make oral representations.
11. Appeal panels must either uphold or dismiss an appeal and must not uphold an appeal subject to any conditions. Appeals must be decided by a simple majority of votes cast. A panel’s decision that a child shall be admitted to a school is binding on the admission authority concerned. 
12. The clerk to the panel must write to the appellant, the admission authority and the council with the panel’s decision and reasons. 
13. Panels must follow a two-stage decision making process. 
14. Stage 1: the panel examines the decision to refuse admission. The panel must consider whether: 
• the admissions arrangements complied with the mandatory requirements set out in the School Admissions Code; 
• the admission arrangements were applied correctly; and if 
• the admission of additional children would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources.  
15. If a panel decides that admitting further children would “prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources” they move to the second stage of the process. 
16. Stage 2: balancing the arguments. The panel must balance the prejudice to the school against the appellant’s case for the child to be admitted.  

Events in this case

17. Mrs X applied on time for a place at School Y. There were more applicants than places. The Council applied its schools’ admissions criteria. In line with its policy, the last place went to an applicant who lives closer to School Y than Mrs X.
18. The Council granted B a place at their nearest state school with places. It is less than the statutory maximum set walking distance of three miles.
19. Mrs X appealed to the Council’s schools’ admissions appeals panel. It considered her appeal in June 2026. She told the appeal panel:
• For health reasons B will struggle in a school they do not know and where they have few friends.
• B would struggle to walk to the allocated school and cannot use public transport alone.
• B has additional needs and School Y is the best school for them.
20. The appeal panel dismissed the appeal. It said Mrs X’s case did not outweigh the prejudice to School Y of having B in the school.
21. Mrs X says this is not fair. She believes the Appeal Panel failed to properly consider B’s additional needs.

Analysis

22. Children whose special educational needs mean a specific school is the only one suitable for them have this set out in an Education Health and Care Plan. B does not have one.
23. Mrs X believes B’s disability will make it not possible to get to the allocated school on their own. The Council has to provide home to school transport to a child’s nearest suitable school if they cannot get there because of a disability. It is open for Mrs X to apply for this.
24. Mrs X says the Appeal Panel’s decision letter does not set out in enough detail how they assessed risk, why they considered risks were not significant enough and what weight was given to evidence. The Appeal Panel’s balancing exercise is not a scientific process. We would not usually consider it maladministration for a Council to not set out the detail Mrs X wants. It does not have to address in detail every individual point Mrs X raised at the appeal. The Appeal Panel’s decision letter in this case is of more detail than the average we see.
25. The Appeal Panel’s decision letter clearly shows it considered B’s additional needs. The Appeal Panel’s final detailed decision letter records the reasons Mrs X gave the appeal panel for wanting a place, including their personal and medical reasons, and why it did not see they were strong enough reasons. It is unlikely we would find fault in the appeal panel’s decision based on the information I have seen which supports its decision. It is a decision it was entitled to take.

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Final decision

26. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault in the appeal panel’s decision which has caused them to lose out on a place at School Y.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman