Complaints about maladministration by Independent Appeal Panels organised by academies should be sent to the Secretary of State. That is all the information I have been able to discover from my enquiry to the Department for Education, which considers this a sufficient explanation for any parent who wishes to complain.
I have asked why there is no relevant information on the Department of Education website, but the DofE response is that parents will find it if they go to http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/schooladmissions/a00195/current-codes-and-regulations. What parents then are expected to do is to work out that they should follow the link to the Appeals Code of 1st February, then when this comes up, navigate to page 23, paragraph 5.4 and then see the phrase in brackets which simply states: (but not an Academy, therefore such complaints about appeal panels for Academies need to be referred to the Secretary of State). This is included in three paragraphs about the work of the Ombudsman, including a link to the advice line. Where do you get advice from the Secretary of State? Further, the Local Government Ombudsman website is packed with advice on how to make a complaint and reference to the advice centre.
The muddle continues with schools and local authorities still too often providing wrong advice. Fort Pitt Grammar School ,which has been an Academy for two years is still advising parents to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman. Last year, and organisation called the YPLA handled complaints but this has been disbanded, an replaced by the Education Funding Agency, which is not mentioned in the Code of Practice. One email I received last year regarding the YPLA stated: "I am trying to sort out the letter to send. Every number I phone to get an address seems to be the wrong one. Do you have an address for where I should send my letter or a name of anyone I should contact. The name and number on the back of the letter is irrelevant.I was wondering about emailing the clerk of the panel as he sent me the letter with the wrong info on?? I seem to be hitting a brick wall on this one". THe DofE website makes clear that the Education Funding Agency is the correct agency to complain to, and you will find the process explained here. Each appeal decision letter is required (not all do as not all schools or academies are keen on parents complaining!) to tell parents where they go to to complain, but many are wrong.
I have considerable experience in supporting parents through the Ombudsman process, where I am able to identify all key issues and simply take over the process if you wish, greatly reducing stress and time spent, and using my expertise to maximise your chances of success (I will also tell parents honestly if I can't see a way forward).
I now have successful experience of taking complaints on maladministration of Appeal Panels to the Secretary of State and am very happy to continue this, my own track record having seen 35 successes from my last 40 complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman.
Last year I won two out of thirteen of all successful complaints nationally about maladministration of admission appeal panels for academies settled by 30th September 2011, and half of all those in Kent! The statistics show it is far harder to win a complaint for an Academy Appeal Panel than with the Local Government Ombudsman (see below).
Last year, the YPLA was able to make one of three decisions as a result of its investigations into complaints about Independent Appeal Panels for Academies:
A. Maladministration that the YPLA considers may have caused injustice. Where this is the decision a fresh appeal is required to be heard by a different panel.
B. Maladministration that the YPLA does not consider to have caused injustice. Where this is the decision no fresh appeal is required
C. No maladministration.
The full figures are as follows:
|
OUTCOMES OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT ADMISSION APPEAL PANEL ADMINISTRATION MADE TO YPLA BEFORE 30 SEPTEMBER 2011
|
|
|
Total received
|
Decision Pending / Awaiting Further Info from parent or Clerk |
A* |
B* |
C* |
Parent Withdrew Complaint |
| National |
107 |
16 |
7 |
3 |
78 |
3 |
| Kent County Council Area |
18 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
13 |
0 |
| Medway Council Area |
0 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
* Letters refer to decisions in previous paragraph.
Compared to Ombudsman decisions, there is a remarkably low proportion of successful complaints settled so far. Of course it may be that those where decisions are pending include a higher proportion of cases which may be settled in favour of the complainant.
By comparison, for 2010 entry, the Local Government Ombudsman heard 1403 school admission complaints nationally, fairly similar proportionately, given the number of schools involved. For Kent in 2010, there were 35 complaints to the Ombudsman about school admissions for county/community schools although the outcomes are not recorded. Kent foundation and voluntary aided schools produced 77 complaints of which 30 were the subject of local settlements (this means in general that the complaints were upheld with a fresh appeal or a recommendation to admit directly to the school), and in Medway, 6 out of 18 were upheld.
There thus appears to be a dramatic fall in the chances of success for complaints about academies, three possible reasons being as follows. Firstly, those still pending may produce a higher proportion of success, as they may be the subject of further investigation, but this would still leave the chances of success much lower. Secondly, the process of determining outcomes has significant differences. Normally in Ombudsman cases, there is discussion of the issues arising between the parties so that all have a chance to comment on the other's case. The complainant usually sees the appeal clerk's notes and the admission authority's comments on the case. he is then able to challenge any wrong information put forward. The Ombudsman issues a provisional view which either side can challenge and put forward further information. On the other hand, with the YPLA, the academy gets to see the complaint, but the parent does not see their response - this is clearly unfair! There may be limited informal discussion, but the first real indication one has of the outcome is the final decision. Thirdly, the Ombudsman website is packed with information and advice on complaints, backed up by a telephone support line. There is no such help available for complaints to the YPLA. There is solely information on the address to send a complaint to. One of the massive frustrations reported by schools and parents alike, is the difficulty in contacting real people - telephone numbers all too often lead to message boards where no one answers!
I am happy to be corrected on any of the above views or information.