PLACING REQUEST APPPEALS INFORMATION FOR PARENTS
While the prevalence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has decreased significantly, and many aspects of life have returned to the position prior to the pandemic, the Scottish Ministers have decided to keep the ability to hold appeal hearings remotely in place for 2023-24. This is to reflect the broad consensus that the ability to use remote means for such hearings has been beneficial for a range of reasons.
The Scottish Government updated the "Coronavirus (COVID-19): school placing requests and appeals- information for parents" in April 2023. Here is a link to the information:
Coronavirus (COVID-19): school placing requests and appeals - information for parents - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Appeal committees may continue to hold hearings virtually, including by video or telephone conference or, if all parties agree, entirely in writing.
The Scottish Government's Choosing a School Guide is available online for information about the relevant timeframes and deadlines that apply to the placing request and appeal processes.
If you do choose to appeal after reading the information, Committee Services will inform you of the appeals process. Please also see section below - "Making an appeal against refusal to place your child in the school of your choice"
Although you can appeal by letter, the facility to appeal by email to committeeservices@ced.glasgow.gov.uk is still available and would help Committee Services to process appeals more efficiently. Where an e-mail address is provided acknowledgement will be by e-mail.
When the Council is not able to grant your child a place in the school you want, you are provided with the reason/s for this by letter.
The 'reason' is one or more of those explained below and allowed by law. There is an extract from both the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 included at the end of this guidance. However, the following is a summary of the legal reasons of refusal.
The Council does not have to admit your child to the school of your choice if any of the following apply:-
Under Section 28C(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 parents whose placing request has been refused are entitled to appeal against this decision to an appeal committee set up by the City Council. This advice outlines in general terms how to lodge an appeal and gives background information on how an appeal should be handled.
1. The education authority must provide you with its decision on your request by no later than 30 April if the placing request was for entry to a school at the start of the new school session, provided your request was received before 15 March. In other cases, the authority has a period of 2 months from receipt of your request to reach its decision. In all cases where a request is refused, reasons will be given.
If the authority for some reason has not sent you its decision in writing within these time limits, the request will be deemed to be refused. Every effort will be made to ensure this situation does not occur.
2. If you wish to appeal, you are required, in all normal situations, to lodge your appeal either within 28 days of receipt of the written notice of refusal or within 28 days of the date on which your request was deemed to have been refused.
It should be noted that in most cases there is no right of appeal for a refusal to place a child in nursery school.
3. In most cases an appeal cannot be made on behalf of a child or by a young person who has already had an appeal made on his/her behalf within the preceding 12 months other than where the authority has reconsidered the request after a review and has refused the request a second time.
4. Although a parent or young person can appeal in writing, an appeal can also be sent by email to services@ced.glasgow.gov.uk which would help Committee Services to process appeals more efficiently. Where an e-mail address is provided acknowledgement will be by e-mail.
Your refusal letter will also provide the specific details on where you should send your appeal.
If calling Committee Service please use:-
0141 287 4372 or 4682 (North West) / 4272 or 0074 (North East) / 4530 (South)
Glasgow City Council
Committee Services
City Chambers
George Square
Glasgow G2 1DU
Please note the above numbers are only for enquiries in regard to the committee administration process associated with the Education Appeals Committee. Any other enquiries in regard to Education Placing Requests should be directed to Education Services by sending an email to cbshub@glasgow.gov.uk
You should note that the role of Committee Services is to deal with the committee administration process associated with the Education Appeals Committee, which includes acknowledging letters of appeal, setting meeting dates, issuing agenda papers and letters informing appellants of the committee's decision. Therefore Committee Services can only provide advice in relation to the committee process.
Your appeal email/letter must give your name and address, the name of your child for whom the appeal is being made, the name and address of the school of your choice, the date and reference of the letter of refusal and a statement indicating why you wish to appeal against this decision. Where you provide an e-mail address acknowledgement of the appeal will be by e-mail.
5. The current regulations governing appeals allow for hearings to be held by remote means. This means that the committee will consider your appeal in a different way. Glasgow now has video conferencing which will be used to hear representations from you and the Education Services representative. The Education Appeals Committee will meet by way of video conferencing using Microsoft Teams. Further details will be sent to you regarding this should you lodge an appeal.
6. If you lodge an appeal you will receive an acknowledgement within 5 working days of receipt. A hearing on a reference shall be held by an appeal committee within the period of 28 days of the date of receipt by them of the reference or in the event of the committee being unable owing to circumstances beyond their control to convene within that period, as soon as reasonably practicable after the expiry of that period
7. In some cases appeals may be held together as combined hearings. They shall be held as soon as reasonably practicable within the period of 28 days immediately after the date of the receipt by the committee of the reference last received by the committee of all the references to be dealt with at the combined hearing or in the event of a committee being unable owing to circumstances beyond their control to convene within that period, as soon as reasonably practicable after the expiry of that period.