Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the complainant’s daughter’s permanent exclusion from a school and her subsequent placement at a Pupil Referral Unit. There is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains that her daughter was unreasonably permanently excluded from school. She further complains that the Council has given her daughter a place at a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), rather than an alternative high school.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X’s daughter has been permanently excluded from a community high school. Miss X says the circumstances did not warrant exclusion, and that the school failed to take proper account of her daughter’s additional needs. She says she does not understand why the school was allowed to exclude had daughter, and the exclusion will affect her ability to take public examinations.
6. Miss X also complains that the Council has provided a place for her daughter at a PRU. She says this is not an appropriate placement and believes she should be given a place at another high school.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. By law, we cannot investigate disciplinary matters within a school and cannot consider whether Miss X’s daughter’s exclusion was warranted. This was a matter for the school’s governors, and the Council had no power to prevent it. As the Council correctly pointed out, Miss X’s recourse was to refer the matter to an independent review panel. Independent review panels do not however have the power to reinstate a pupil.
8. When a pupil is permanently excluded, councils have a responsibility to make alternative arrangements for their education. They may choose to discharge this responsibility by using PRUs. This does not amount to fault, and the Ombudsman cannot criticise the Council for placing Miss X’s daughter at a PRU. If she wants her daughter to attend another school, it is open to her to apply in the normal way. There are no grounds for us to intervene.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman