Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in admissions decisions and an appeal affecting a child. This is because the Council was acting on behalf of a school and was not acting under its own administrative powers. The law does not allow us to consider complaints of this nature.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council is at fault because it did not properly acknowledge a change of address that she registered showing her family had moved to its area. Mrs X says this then affected her son’s eligibility for a place at a grammar school. Mrs X also says the independent appeals process did not properly consider her appeal to refuse her son a school place.
2. Mrs X says this has caused her and her family distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate complaints about actions which are not the administrative function of a council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(1) as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X said she applied for a grammar school (School A) in 2025, for her son, for admission in 2026. She said the Council did not inform her in good time that her application was incomplete. Mrs X said this meant her son missed out on a school place because the application was not considered under the local resident criteria.
9. I cannot investigate this complaint. We have no power to consider what happens in schools, including academies, such as School A. The actions the Council took as part of the admissions process, including during the subsequent appeals procedures, were actions it was taking on behalf of School A. The evidence shows it was not acting under its own administrative powers and the law I have referred to in paragraph five does not allow us to investigate.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we cannot investigate complaints about actions which are not an administrative function of a council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman