Advice desperately needed on appeals process

[FnD]

V long and complicated story but please bear with me....

My Oldest DS has been at an out of catchment infant school and is now in year 1. We applied for him to go to the linked junior school. However they take 75 places at the infant and only 60 at the junior.
At the same time, we applied for my middle DS for the same infant school. they will start Yr 3 and reception respectively this september. My youngest DS ( and the middle one) has a childminder whose own children attend the infant and junior schools above and she therefore does the school run as well for my DS.

On Wednesday we were told in writing that both boys had got places at the junior and infant schools and all was great.

On friday, we got a letter saying they were terribly sorry they had made a mistake and offered too many places at the junior school and were going to have to retract my oldest DS's place and offered one at another school ( a rubbish one, which is nearer where we live but miles away from the infant school and chidlminder)

They have also ( I think to make up for their screw up) offered 64 instead of 60 places at the junior school which makes the chances of a successful appeal even harder.

So I have an oldest DS nowhere, the middle DS starting at the infant school in September and my youngest DS who has Down's syndrome and who I am desperate not to move from the childminder who is ace.

I need to start tackling this on Monday. HELP!!!

Hi Stillcrazy - am currently composing a letter to all and sundry.

The county have this morning said that they think they are acting within section1.50 of the schools admission code by withdrawing the place and I am still arghing that they are not.

Spoke to the ACE this morning (thanks forthat link) who said to keep going at them with the code and that they are on dodgy ground.

In the letter they say that they used the admission rules to reallocate and others had a higher priority than my son.

I'm glad ACE were helpful - I've never used them but they gave a lot of help to a friend when her son was excluded.

You might also want to see this DCSF guide to appeals and these FAQs from N Lincolnshire - there are lots similar online if you search.

There are firms of solicitors who specialise in education law. You could ask them for advice on whether or not it is lawful for the LEA to rely on para 1.50 to withdraw offers, to correct its own mistakes over admission to its own schools.

In John Chard's book, Your school Your choice he includes the outline of some of the complaints made to the local Government Ombudsman and I believe this one may be relevant to your situation...

Complaint 99/C/1876 - a headteacher of a school offered 5 places (even though the LEA was the admissions authority). Three days later the LEA wrote to the parents and withdrew the offer of those places. The Ombudsman found maladministration because the parents ought to be able to rely on an offer made by the headteacher and the withdrawal of the offer three days later was too long; the parents' expectation of the offer of the places had not been overcome because of the delay. In a similar case where the offers were withdrawn on the same day it was found that the parents' expectation had been overcome.

Apart from anything else this would seem to suggest that three days is too long a period for a withdrawal of an offer to be seen as reasonable. That may give you another point to argue especially as it is something ruled on by the LG Ombudsman.

John Chard also established the website www.schoolappeals.org.uk which might be worth a look.

Well I fired off an email yesterday to the head of admissions, the head of childrens services and copied in my MP and the council cabinet member for education.

This morning another mum spoke with the DCSF who advised that the LEA had violated policy and needed to reinstate the places. The LEA are currently seeking legal advice and have gone quiet.

Here's hoping you hear some good news soon...

fingers crossed FnD

That all sounds good. Just remember to stay calm and focussed.

am v upset. Have just had a response from the LEA stating... the Code says that it ?may be appropriate? ?where a place was offered under co-ordination by the local authority, not the admission authority, in error?. The administrative error, which was to put the infant school admission number into the junior school transfer process occurred at the point the admissions team managed the coordinated scheme, not in the application of the admission rules in either your or any other child?s case. This resulted in a number of children being offered the places between 60 and 75 which did not exist. We have sought our own legal advice on this issue and believe that it was possible for us to withdraw places under this clause. In order to try to minimise the distress we took the view that as the school currently had 64 in Year 3 that this would be an appropriate figure to retain.

They then say that if i back up the extenuating circumstances with proffessional documentation we may go higher up the waiting list.

Their reasoning and interpretation doesn't mae sense to me but have not got a bottomless pit to pay to take on their legal team. The fact that they already have taken on 64 children means my chances of a successful appeal are practically nil. I could sob but I still have to get the boys to bed.

This is a similar thing, but we knew of a child offered a place at a primary school by mistake - it should have gone to someone else ( it was based on proximity ) and the family who were offered it in error accepted itr straight away, and then there was no way that it could be reclaimed once the mistake had been pointed out to them

I'm not surprised you feel like sobbing, I would too! Before giving up all hope do contact the local government Ombudsman - it seems as though the LA reckon that by blaming an administrative error it somehow makes it acceptable to have over-allocated the places. The use of phrases such as 'we believe' and 'may be appropriate' make their argument sound incredibly vague and they seem to have completely missed the point that the LA and the admissions authority are one and the same.

Have you been in touch with the parent who'd contacted the DCSF? Perhaps she knows a solicitor who could have a look at it for you both?

Sounds like they are attempting to get out on a technicality. They were hardly likely to cave in straightaway, after all. Agree with SE13 in that the admissions team and LEA are the same and that the use of terms such as "we believe" etc... show they know they're on dodgy ground. I'd still pursue it, if I were you. Any place offered in error is down to an administrative mistake, regardless of whether that was feeding in the wrong admission number, or muddling up which out of two children lives closer.
Don't give up yet. Good luck.

{hug} no wonder you feel like sobbing, but don't give in yet.

I can't see how the LA can effectively argue

"This LA team are the admissions authority and they did it right, but that LA team are the coordinated offer team and they got it wrong, so we can withdraw the offer"

The LA ARE the admissions authority and if one of their team's got it wrong tough. The crux of it is that you should be able to rely on the ability of the admissions authority to give out the offers correctly, and the LGO case SE13 quotes backs that up too.

I would be on the phone to
ACE
LGO
schools adjudicator

Hopefully one or all of them should be able to help

Well, I'm not a lawyer but their reading of para 1.50 seems perverse to me. I thought it was intended to protect (so to speak) the school from the mistakes of the LEA where the LEA isn't the admissions authority for the school. I have to say, I feel the school's pain if they have to find some way of accommodating all the children who were offered places in error, but that isn't the point. If the offer is legally binding then your child is entitled to the place.

I understand that you don't have a bottomless pit of money or energy but I still think it's worth persevering. Could you track down the official in the DCSF who advised your friend and e-mail them, asking for the official DCSF view on when LEAs are and are not justified in withdrawing offers made in error?

Finally, I know of these solicitors only by reputation and cannot recommend or endorse them, but you might want to consider whether it is worth paying for a preliminary consultation either with them or one of the other firms specialising in education law - Match solicitors

I too can appreciate that it's tough on the school if the LA have to honour the places they offered, but if the LA are not allowed to withdraw the offers then it's up to the LA & school to work out a solution, not really your problkem.

I managed to find this on another site, which (I think) quotes the same LGO case SE13 mentioned

"If the parental application was not fraudulent, can an LA withdraw a place it has offered in error?

The law is not entirely clear here, but the length of time that passes before the place is withdrawn seems to be significant.

The following precedents may be of interest (but come without guarantees!):

R v Beatrix Potter School (1997)
The head offered a place in error, and the LA withdrew it the same day. Parents appealed to the High Court on grounds of ?legitimate expectation? of a place. High Court refused the appeal (and the place) as the offer was withdrawn the same day.

Ombudsman complaint 99/C/1876
Head offered 5 places. LEA withdrew them after 3 days. Ombudsman decided in this case the delay was too long, and amounted to maladminstration. Places confirmed."

Well I woke up today and carried on the battle. Responded to their email saying that their interpretation of section 1.50 was irrelevant and then quoted them a section of one of their own letters from early feb 2010 to all of their headteachers which states

"It is important that you check your allocations carefully as once the letters go to print it will be too late to make any changes, and any place offered even in error will have to be honoured."

I have asked them to reconsider reinstating my sons place in light of their legal obligations which they are clearly aware of.

cc'd in my mp and cabinet member again for good measure.

They have now gone quiet on me...

Fnd - I hope you still intend to appeal. Just because they have taken on 64 children doesn't mean they can't make it 65, and you appear to me to have strong grounds (though I am not an expert in this).

(When my daughter lost out on a place at grammar school, 3 people still got in on appeal, even though the school had already offered 129 places instead of 120.)

You seem to have lots of grounds for appeal:

A Legal/Procedural

1. They can't withdraw a place they have offered. Section 1.50 refers to 'where a place was offered under co-ordination by the local authority, not the admission authority, in errorÂ?. However, in this case the LA is the admission authority, so I would argue that does not apply.

2.Offer was not withdrawn until two days later - hence the delay was too long (referring to the Ombudsman complaint)

1. Following this error, the LA then made a further change to their procedures by offering places anyway to 4 more children. Surely the strict letter of their process would require them to withdraw all the offers? If they can offer 4 more places then why not 16?

B Compassionate Grounds

If your DS1 cannot get into this school, then you will have to move other children, from current childminder. This could have a deleterious effect especially on DS3 with Downs, who would suffer by being moved from his current environment

Good luck

ditto what seimum said, stick your appeal in anyway. Hopefully it will be all sorted before you get that far, but if not the appeal panel are supposed to be independent & you can bring up the LGO ruling & explain you intend to take your case to them should the appeal be unsuccessful.

Any progress FnD?

Hi SE13 - thanks for asking. I last heard from them last Tuesday when they confirmed that they had received my email asking them to explain why they had put in writing that they would honour places even if offered in error. they said they would get back to me as soon as they were able .

In the meantime, I have sent off my appeals form and am awaiting a supporting statement from my GP and SALT.

The battle continues!!!

thanks for the update FnD, I was wondering what was happening too.

I think their silence speaks volumes, I think the LEA are bricking it & desperately looking for a way to dig themselves out of the hole they've made...

Fingers crossed that it gets resolved before the appeal, as I'm sure you can do without the added stress.

FnD... I have a document I purchased online last year which will help you put an appeal together if you end up having to do so.

Would you like a copy? It is rather good!

Just wanted to update and say a BIG THANK YOU!! to everyone that posted advice and support on here.

Ended up submitting a lot of supporting info from GP, health visitor and SALT about my oldest DS and the impact of having a disabled sibling. Was meant to be used for the appeal but they also used it to rule exceptional medical / social grounds which bumped him further up the waiting list for the school.

Despite being given a date for the appeal, we have also received in the post today an offer of a place at the school following the second round of applications. YIPPEEE!!!

(better bloody well not be an april fools trick )

Thanks again for all the advice - really appreciate it and whilst I was ready to fight to the bitter end am glad I am not going to have to!

Glad I noticed this update and that it all worked out OK in the end. Just a shame that you had several weeks of anxiety.

that is brilliant news FnD

Just another update - in case it helps anyone in the future.
The other families had their appeal hearing yesterday and the appeals were all up held and they have been places are being reinstated.

The panel said that the LA had not followed procedure by allocating places over and above their PAN.

I am now going to make a complaint about class sizes