On 28 October 2011, Professor Ian Craig published his report on the work of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) for the year 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011.
Adjudicators resolve differences over the interpretation and application of legislation and guidance on school admissions. They do not deal with complaints from parents whose child has not been offered a place at a particular school.
Their key responsibilities are to:
- determine objections to school admission arrangements
- decide on requests to vary admission arrangements
- resolve disputes relating to school organisation proposals
- resolve disputes on the transfer and disposal of non playing field land and assets
- decide on appeals when a local authority has directed a particular school to admit a particular child.
The Office of the Schools Adjudicator is a tribunal, supervised by the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council. Once published decisions can only be challenged through the courts.
The 2011 annual report outlines the work carried out by adjudicators during the year:
- objections to admission arrangements reduced this year with 127 referrals compared to 387 last year
- 74 per cent of objections to admission arrangements were from parents
- 18 per cent of objections to admission arrangements related to faith schools
- 17 per cent of objections to admission arrangements related to academies (since April 2011)
- requests to vary admission arrangements usually related to changes in the published admission number - 67 per cent of variation cases this year. These cases tended to reflect the increasing pressure for primary school places in some areas
- there was a reduction in disputes relating to school organisation proposals
- there was also a reduction in the number of appeals made to the OSA when a local authority has directed a particular school to admit a particular child
- land transfer disputes remained a minor but often very time consuming matter for adjudicators.
The 2011 annual report also refers to evidence from 146 local authorities in England about the admission arrangements of schools in their area. This includes how local authorities say that fair access is being achieved locally.
Reflecting on the year, 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011, Chief Schools Adjudicator Professor Ian Craig today makes three recommendations to the Government:
- Recommendation 1: In order to improve consistency, requests to vary the determined admission arrangements of academies, should be referred to the adjudicator as they already are with other schools.
- Recommendation 2: In order to reduce issues related to cross-border applications, a national offer date for primary admissions should be identified for future years.
- Recommendation 3: As there are now set closing dates, for both primary and secondary applications for school places, and late applications are a significant issue - particularly with regard to the most disadvantaged groups in society - there should be national publicity annually, to alert parents to these dates.
Chief Schools Adjudicator Professor Ian Craig said:
This has been another busy year for the Office of the Schools Adjudicator, set against a backdrop of the Government’s review of legislation and guidance as part of its Education Bill and new School Admissions Code.
I’d like to thank the team of adjudicators for the valuable work they do to ensure that often difficult and emotional disputes are decided with a very thorough and fair application of the legislation and guidance available to us.
It has been a real privilege to hold the post of Chief Schools Adjudicator for England. I wish the new Chief Schools Adjudicator - Dr Elizabeth Passmore - and her excellent team, all the very best for the future.
Notes to editors:
- The annual report is published in the OSA publications section of this site.
- Professor Craig is the Visiting Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Contact details
OSA - Press Office
Office of the Schools Adjudicator
Telephone: 0114 2742366