Secondary appeal - role of the clerk?

[SueSue12]

Hi - just wondering if anyone knows about the role of the clerk. I get the purpose but was interested to understand how they are chosen? ie - is it someone who works for the school? do they know the appeal members?

They're entirely independent of the school - it's the Law. They only know the panel members in the sense of having worked with them previously on other appeals. The appeals clerk is not the school governance professional.

They are also highly experienced professionals who are so good at their specialism that they can make a living from it, whether it be through the Local Authority or on a self employed basis.

ok great - thats what I thought. But clerks and paid and appeal members are always volunteers?

Clerks are paid; taking extensive notes, advising the panel on the relevant law, and writing the letters that explain the decisions is their job. Usually it is one of their jobs, as it is not a full time role, but they are independent from the school, and the panel. The panel are volunteers, though expenses can be paid.

thanks @PatriciaHolm for the clarification. Are there not clerk services people who also provide panel members? or can they not do both for the same school?

clerk services companies i mean

I'm not aware of any companies that do that. In my experience, the clerks tend to be self employed having had a career in law, and the panels are managed by the LA or sometimes (rarely IME) the school, but are all volunteers and independent.

There seems to be a fair few around that offer services as clerks/providing panel members/providing a presenting officer. I appreciate the 3rd one would definately be a conflict but if the same company provided both clerks and panel would that be a issues regarding independance?

I’ve been doing this for a long, long time and all my fellow panel members are unpaid volunteers who’ve been recruited and trained by the LEA. I don’t know where our local academies get their panel members.

thanks very much - maybe me just being paranoid

Kent LA appear to offer this sort of service, through an independent service that is part of the LA, but the panelists are trained by the LA , which is a legal requirement in the code. Having panels and clerks sourced by the same company would not be an issue - that is the normal situation in reality, it's just normally the LA that sources both. I know most of the clerks that operate here anyway, there aren't that many! And my fellow panelists, and the independent presenting officers.

Agree with @PatriciaHolm

The appeal panel and clerk must both be independent from the school and the admission authority (the school for academies, free schools and VA schools, the LA for other types of school). They don't have to be independent from each other, so there is no problem with a business providing both the clerk and the panel.

If an appeal is successful does the clerk notify the school straight away or do they have to wait the 5 days like parents do?
My sons school has an induction visit the day after the last appeal is heard. I think its really unfair to sit him in with the induction if they know he hasn't got a place at their school (any child that has appeal will sit in the induction)