The Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) published its annual report to the Secretary of State in July 2025. The report covers the work of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) during the calendar year 2024 and the local authority reports made to the OSA in accordance with the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 relating to the academic year September 2023 to August 2024.
Summary
The number of new cases submitted to the OSA in 2024 was 351. This was a 20 per cent increase on the 292 submitted in 2023.
During 2024, the number of applications for approval of proposed variations to admission arrangements increased significantly, which rose from 92 new referrals in 2023 to 132 in 2024, an increase of more than 40 per cent. These have, most commonly, been requests to approve proposals to reduce published admission numbers (PANs) for primary schools, due to a fall in applications for school places. A total of 96 proposed reductions in PAN were approved, seven proposed reductions were not approved.
The OSA has expressed concern about requests for approvals of PAN reductions being lodged after the closing date for applications for admission, in circumstances where it is clear that some parents who have applied for places at a school in good faith with virtual certainty that a place at the school will be offered, will not receive such an offer on National Offer Day if the requested PAN reduction is approved. The OSA has stated that approvals will not usually be granted in such cases except where refusal will cause severe adverse financial consequences for the school and where there are sufficient places for displaced children at other local suitable schools situated within reasonable distance of the families’ home addresses.
The number of requests for advice to the Secretary of State on directions to admit named pupils to academies continues to increase.
The number of objections to and referrals of admission arrangements rose from 138 to 154, with several ‘multiple objections’ (objections on the same point made by a large number of people).
in December, the OSA received two letters before claim threating applications for judicial review. It was indicated that both challenges would be defended robustly. One of the claims appears not to be proceeding. The other claim has been lodged with the Administrative Court, and the Claimant has been granted leave to pursue the claim.
Directions
Under sections 96, 97, 97A and 97B of the School Standards and Framework Act, the admission authority for a maintained school may, in certain circumstances, be notified by a local authority that it is to be directed to admit a child. The admission authority for that school can in turn refer the notification to the adjudicator and the adjudicator will then make the final decision; these are referred to as “direction cases”.
For academy schools, where a local authority considers that an academy would be the most appropriate school for a child without a school place and the academy does not agree to admit the child in question, the local authority may make a request to the Secretary of State, to direct the academy to admit the child. In such cases, the Secretary of State may seek advice from the adjudicator; these are referred to as “direction advice cases”. It is to be noted that the OSA understands that most, if not all, direction applications received by the Secretary of State are referred to the adjudicator.
Taking direction advice and direction cases together, the 61 new referrals in 2024 represented the highest ever annual total. The number of local authority areas involved was 31, a decrease from the 40 in 2023.
Local Authority Annual Reports
Section 88P of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (the Act) requires every local authority to make an annual report to the adjudicator by 31 October each year covering the prior academic year. The Chief Adjudicator then includes a summary of these reports in the annual report to the Secretary of State for Education.
Paragraph 3.30 of the Admissions Code specifies what must be included as a minimum in the report to the OSA. The report must cover as a minimum:
- information about how admission arrangements in the area of the local authority serve the interests of looked after children and previously looked after children, children with disabilities and children with special educational needs, including any details of where problems have arisen;
- an assessment of the effectiveness of Fair Access Protocols including how many children were admitted to each school under it; and
- any other issues the local authority may wish to include.
Key observations from the local authority reports
In-Year Admissions
In-year admissions and the effectiveness of Fair Access Protocols remains a major concern with local authorities flagging up various issues in their annual reports to the OSA.
The increased challenge reported by many authorities was attributed to an increased demand for in-year admissions, fewer available school places and a greater reluctance from schools to admit additional pupils. Reasons given for the increased demand for places included an increase in permanent exclusions and migration from overseas and elsewhere in the UK. A small number of local authorities identified some children who had been educated in independent schools but were returning to the state school system due to forthcoming changes in VAT and the associated increase in school fees.
The matter of elective home education (EHE) was also of great concern to many local authorities, with increased pupil movement due to children returning to the school system after a period of EHE.
One local authority is reported as saying: –
“In our experience many of these children become home educated because of difficulties at school (e.g. poor attendance) or a breakdown in the parent/school relationship. They tend to be home educated for a relatively brief period before wanting to return to the school system and applying for an in-year place at a new school. Along with our schools, we are concerned that this provides a route to ‘school-hopping’. This not only leads to gaps in a child’s education but is likely to impact on their ability to work through challenging situations and build personal resilience. From a school’s perspective, there is a reluctance to admit children who have been electively home educated for short periods as this is seen as an indicator of unresolved issues, usually associated with challenging behaviour, particularly at secondary level (e.g. parents choosing to home educate before their child is permanently excluded)”.
In addition, the matter of schools for which the local authority is not the admission authority; that is schools within multi-academy trusts (Trusts) and others which are Own Admission Authority (OAA) Schools was raised by most, if not all, local authorities. Responses generally focused on the lack of information, power and oversight which local authorities have for these schools, including the number of available places. Several local authorities described difficulties caused by schools choosing to reorganise their class structure in order to address financial issues, resulting in fewer pupil places than had previously been the case. Many reported schools “capping” their admission numbers.
Once again the OSA has drawn attention to the fact that some local authorities (and schools) continue to erroneously refer to the PAN in year groups other than the normal years of entry (Yr R, Yr 7 and for schools with a Sixth Form Yr 12), or to “working PANs”, a term which does not appear in the Code and has no basis in law.
The test for refusing a child an in-year place is whether their admission will cause prejudice to the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources, and for a looked after child whether that prejudice would be serious. It is noted that adjudicators have found in their determinations that seeking to apply an admission number to any year group other than the normal year of entry (where the PAN is a minimum number who must be admitted if sufficient applications are received) is contrary to the Code.
The OSA makes it clear that “We cannot support any setting of admission limits in respect of year groups other than the normal year of entry unless there is a change in the Code to allow this”.
Looked After Children and Previously Looked After Children In Year
The DfE document “Promoting the education of looked-after children and previously looked-after children” (2018) states, at paragraph 12:
“schools judged by Ofsted to be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ should be prioritised when seeking a place for looked-after children in need of a new school.”
A shortage of places in such schools has led to problems for some local authorities; this included where schools judged to be good or outstanding were obliged to admit what they considered to be a disproportionately high number of LAC and PLAC as their geographical neighbours had been judged to be less effective.
Many local authorities reported that schools are increasingly reluctant to admit LAC and PLAC applicants, including those with SEND, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) (who may also have special needs) and those in older year groups.
Several local authorities reported that schools have refused admission to LAC and PLAC under paragraph 3.10 of the Code; some that the number of such refusals has increased. It is reported that this is a matter that adjudicators have encountered when dealing with direction and direction advice cases for such children and it is, in the words of the OSA, “deeply concerning”. The Code states unequivocally, in paragraph 3.12, that: –
“The provision in paragraph 3.10 cannot be used to refuse admission to looked after children, previously looked after children; and children who have Education, Health and Care Plans naming the school in question.”
In last year’s report the Chief Adjudicator discussed the matter of LAC and PLAC and FAPs; it was explained that the Code allows for PLAC children to be included in FAPs but does not extend the same provision to LAC children.
As stated in paragraph 37 of that report:
“the placement of these children should not wait upon the FAP but secured quickly using the local authority’s own direction powers or asking the Secretary of State to direct an academy to admit the child if necessary.”
It therefore appears that directions will be issued by the Secretary of State to accommodate this group of vulnerable children.
A final matter of note is that a number of local authorities raised concerns about the behaviour of other admission authorities; one remarked that some OAA Schools, in particular schools that have recently converted to academy status, “are not always aware of the legal requirements in relation to school admissions.” It was also reported that schools with high levels of pupil mobility, or that have been rated by Ofsted as less than good, “are refusing to admit students to avoid those transferring with attendance and behaviour issues.”
Admissions will come into sharp focus for many schools as the consultation window opens on 1 October 2025. Please feel free to reach out to our team if you would like us to review your admissions arrangements or consultation documents.