Last week was national offer day when more than 500,000 children in their final year at primary school were told which secondary school they were going to in September. Once again, it appears from media reports that there is a shortfall in places and some children (1 in 7) will not get their first choice of school. Many of the parents of such pupils are probably planning to appeal and it appears likely that local authorities will be facing a substantial number of appeals for popular schools in their area that are oversubscribed. These appeals must be heard by 6 July 2011.
Local authorities conducting appeals may find the following PLC Public Sector materials useful:
- A practice note on school admission appeals. The note provides helpful information on:
- The framework under the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998, the regulations governing admission appeals and the statutory code of guidance covering such appeals.
- The written notice of appeal to the parents and when it should be sent.
- The evidence for the appeal hearing and when this should be provided to the appellants.
- What formalities need to be carried out before the appeal hearing.
- Conducting the appeal hearing.
- Issues relating to the record of the appeal, in particular the status of the notes and whether FOIA/data protection legislation applies to these.
- Taking the decision.
- A practice note on ensuring a fair hearing. Although this note is written in the context of a tribunal hearing, the principles of fairness outlined in the note apply equally to school admission appeal hearings.
In order to ensure that any such appeals cannot be challenged by way of judicial review, it is essential that local authorities conduct appeal hearings properly, observe the principles of natural justice and give proper reasons for the decisions that are taken. Although there is no requirement to give an elaborate decision, some key principles in relation to the giving of reasons can be summarised from the existing case law. These are that:
- A standard form of letter to all appellants is unlikely to be adequate since the grounds for the decision must be tailored to the facts of the particular appellant’s case.
- It is not sufficient to set out the statutory criteria without addressing the individual circumstances of the appellant’s case.
- The reasons that are given in a decision letter must make clear why the appeal was won or lost.
- What is required in a decision letter will depend on the issues raised in the appeal. For example, in a complex case, the grounds are likely to be more elaborate than in a simple case since the decision letter should make it clear that the panel took into account each of the factors raised by the appellant in their appeal application.
- Where there is no dispute as to primary facts, the reasons do not have to make findings about those facts.
- If there is a clear dispute of fact, then the reasons should set out the panel’s findings on the relevant facts as well as the substantive issue.
In order to assist their drafting of these decision letters, PLC Public Sector have prepared the following specimen letters. Given the guidance above, it is essential that these letters are tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. The specimen letters cover a school admission appeal:
- Where no prejudice established at the first stage of the appeal process: letter confirming place offered.
- Where no prejudice established at the second stage of the appeal process: letter confirming place offered.
- Refusing appeal.
In addition, PLC has a detailed drafting note to accompany the specimen letters to be used when notifying a parent of the outcome of an appeal for a school place.
Local authorities and schools should also ensure that they consider their duties under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010), which operate alongside the existing admissions framework under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Under the EqA 2010, it is unlawful for a school to discriminate against or victimise a potential pupil in the arrangements that it makes for deciding admissions, the terms on which it offers admission or by refusing to offer a pupil a place based on a protected characteristic. For more information on the EqA 2010, see our Toolkit. PLC Public Sector will also shortly be publishing a note specifically dealing with the EqA 2010 in relation to education providers (schools and local authorities).