Maladministration by surrey cc

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Has anyone suffered with maladministration with in year application under exceptional circumstances?

There are solicitors who specialise in Educational Law, but they tend to be very expensive and it obviously depends on location. In Surrey you could try Guildford Chambers, who have a team that works in education law.

I presume that the letter has not arrived detailing the reasons for the decision taken. You don't however need a solicitor for the next move, it has to be a further complaint to the LGO, as it is an obvious case of maladministration not to send out letters confirming the panel's decisions. It is however not going to change the decision made, simply give you a better idea whether you have any grounds to talk further to the LGO.

I don't have any recommendations but I agree with Admission that you don't need a solicitor to resolve Surrey's failure to come up with a proper decision letter. The LGO is best placed to deal with maladministration by Surrey and/or the appeal panel if there has been any. Or do you believe that some other aspect of your case justifies legal action?

Personally I would only consider going to the courts under very limited circumstances. The LGO will come back with a decision more rapidly than the courts and won't cost you anything regardless of whether you win or lose. If you do consult a solicitor and go to court you may have to pay significant costs and you may not get all your money back even if you win. If you lose you may end up paying Surrey's costs as well.

I would also not recommend rushing into legal proceedings. However, if you do choose to go down that route I would also highly recommend Guildford Chambers and have regularly instructed one of the barristers who deals with Education matters.

Dear prh I received the decision letter. They claim that the year 4 class is smaller than year 3 when the LEA rep advised they were bigger, the LEA rep was allowed to get additional information during the first stage. Other informations and reasons given don't make sense. It is with LGO and is being looked at.

In that case you don't need a lawyer. If the LGO can see that the decision is contrary to the evidence presented they are likely to order a fresh appeal.

Didn't Surrey give class sizes for all years in their written case?

No, the only information I was given was paragraphs A) LA Admissions policy B) efficient use of resourses C) Application of policy at the school D)Health & Safety and a conclusion. Net Capacity Assessment method for Primary schools two pages of this with no signiture on it.

The lack of a signature is not an issue.

A class arrangement is not compulsory but most LA cases I have seen include one. It would have helped to ensure that the appeal panel didn't get it wrong. However, the most important point is that if the appeal panel's decision is factually incorrect and shows they have based their decision on a misunderstanding of the evidence I would expect the LGO to recommend a fresh appeal.