£7,000 payout after girl misses a year of school

APOLOGY BY COUNCIL AS TEEN MISSED HER GCSES

A GIRL who missed more than a year of her education, including her GCSE exams, has been paid £7,200 compensation by Leicestershire County Council.

The council apologised to the teenager, who was a Year 10 pupil when she was left without a school place for nearly 14 months at “a critical time in her education”.

The teenager, whose family moved from Leicester over the county border, was unable to attend classes from early January 2019 to the end of February 2020 because there were no places at nearby academy schools.

Although the county council has no direct authority over academies’ admissions, an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman criticised County Hall for not doing enough to tackle the case earlier.

It said the council should have used those powers it does have through the Government’s Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to force the academies to take action.

Instead, the Ombudsman’s report found the council allowed the girl’s case to drift and did not do enough to ensure alternative arrangements were in place while a school place was being found.

Ombudsman Michael King said: “This case highlights the problems many parents and councils face following the widespread academisation of schools.

“Academies have their own admissions arrangements and councils have limited powers to ensure the admissions of pupils.

“It is therefore essential – given the limited powers they do have – that councils use those powers to ensure pupils are not without education for any longer than absolutely necessary.”

He said things had changed at County Hall as a result of the case and said: “I welcome the proactive steps Leicestershire County Council has taken during my investigation to improve its services.”

During the investigation, the council carried out a check of all similar cases and found no other child had waited more than 15 days for a school place.

The council’s checks showed it needed to collect better information from academies about the children on their rolls and steps have now been taken to improve this, the Ombudsman said.

The council agreed to apologise to the family and pay them £7,200 towards the teenager’s education. It will also pay the family £300 for the time and trouble caused by the complaint.

Councillor Deborah Taylor, the county council’s lead member for children and families, said: “We take all complaints seriously and we apologise for the unacceptable delays which led to this pupil being without a school place for so long.

“We are reviewing our procedures and will be providing refresher training to our officers.

“We will also be reminding all schools and academies of their duties around registration.”