School measures - Co-operation on admissions and place planning

A measure to introduce new duties for schools and local authorities to co-operate with each other regarding admissions and for schools to co-operate with local authorities regarding place planning.

It is proposed that new duties are introduced for all mainstream state schools, to include academies, and local authorities to cooperate regarding their respective school admissions functions and for mainstream, special and alternative provision state schools to co-operate with local authorities regarding their place planning functions. The onus will be on schools and local authorities to work together constructively on these issues so that their statutory responsibilities can be fulfilled.

The functioning of the admissions and place planning system is dependent on effective co-operation between schools and local authorities. Examples of where co-operation is needed include: –

• Local authorities and schools developing and agreeing the local area’s Fair Access Protocol to ensure that unplaced and vulnerable children (e.g. children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and children with a social worker) are allocated a school place as quickly as possible.
• Local authorities engaging with schools to produce and deliver proposals for ensuring sufficient school places – both mainstream and specialist provision – and reducing/repurposing spare capacity, for example, adding a SEN unit to a school.
• Local authorities working with all admission authorities in their area to collate and publish a composite prospectus for parents with the admission arrangements for schools in that area for the normal admissions round.

The measure will require maintained and academy schools and local authorities to cooperate with each other when carrying out their respective statutory duties regarding school admissions. These statutory duties include: –

• The body responsible for the school’s admission arrangements i.e. the admission authority (the governing body or local authority for a maintained school or the academy trust for an academy) must determine the school’s admission arrangements for the coming year and must consult on those arrangements before they are decided.
• The local authority must co-ordinate arrangements for the admission of pupils to schools during the normal admissions round.
• Local authorities and schools must comply with any requirements set out in the School Admissions Code, for example, each local authority must have a Fair Access Protocol in place which is developed in partnership with all schools in its area.

Additionally, the measure will require schools to co-operate with local authorities with the aim of contributing to the local authority’s ‘place planning’ duties, so far as is reasonable.

The proposed new co-operation duties are intended to ensure that schools and local authorities work together constructively on admissions and place planning so that their respective statutory responsibilities can be delivered. These new duties complement existing, more specific requirements to co-operate, for example, developing and agreeing the local area’s Fair Access Protocol.

The government’s expectation is that schools and local authorities should seek to support or help (and not hinder) each in other in carrying out their respective duties. Schools’ and local authorities’ interests may not always be aligned, and they are not expected to agree on all admissions and place planning matters. However, the expectation is that they will behave reasonably and collaboratively, for example, considering the other party’s views, being willing to meet and discuss differences, and sharing relevant information in a timely manner.

The above analysis relates to Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which has not yet become law and may be subject to change as it passes through Parliament. We will be posting updates to this page if there are any key developments but the above may not reflect the latest changes to the legislation.  Please contact our School Support (schoolsupport@wslaw.co.uk)  or Schools HR (schoolshr@wslaw.co.uk) teams if you require an update on the latest status of the Bill.