Brighton & Hove City Council: the register
Ruling 21 004 649
Folio 379
Finding: Fault found
- Finding recorded by the ombudsman
- Upheld
- Service
- Education: COVID-19
- Council
- Brighton & Hove City Council
- Body
- Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
- Decided
- Summary
-
Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of admission to secondary school for his child, Y. The Council is at fault as it cannot demonstrate it properly applied its admissions criteria to Mr X’s application for his child. The Council delayed in providing the questions and answers for the appeal panel hearing and did not provide sufficient in the appeal panel’s decision letter for Mr X to understand why his appeal was refused. But these faults did not cause significant injustice to Mr X. The Council delayed in responding to Mr X’s Freedom of Information request and complaint which caused avoidable time and trouble to him which the Council has agreed to remedy.
Summary as published by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Remedies
Words in quotation marks are quoted from the ombudsman’s decision.
States worked out on 9 October 2026.
The ombudsman publishes no entry for a remedy.
| Ordered | Outcome publishedThe ombudsman publishes no entry for a remedy. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | What was ordered | Deadline | Payment | Date | Entry | Payment |
| 1 | ApologySend a written apologyDeadline as worded: within one month of my final decision |
Deadline passed 27 November 2022. Outcome not published. | None | No outcome published by the ombudsman | ||
| 2 | Paymentmakes a payment of £150 to Mr X to acknowledge the avoidable time and trouble caused to him by the delays in dealing with his FOI request and complaint.Deadline as worded: within one month of my final decision |
Deadline passed 27 November 2022. Outcome not published. | £150.00 | No outcome published by the ombudsman | ||
| 3 | Service changeEnsure it can provide evidence to show the ranking of pupils who are not offered a place at the school in comparison to the pupils who are offered a place after each round of allocation and re-randomisation of the waiting lists. This is to ensure the allocations process is transparent.Deadline as worded: within two months of my final decision |
Deadline passed 27 December 2022. Outcome not published. | None | No outcome published by the ombudsman | ||
| 4 | Service changeThe Council should also ensure it provides this information to appeal panels to enable them to make an informed decision on whether the admissions arrangements have been properly applied.Deadline as worded: within two months of my final decision |
Deadline passed 27 December 2022. Outcome not published. | None | No outcome published by the ombudsman | ||
| Stated payments ordered | £150.00 | Outcomes published by the ombudsman: none | ||||