Shaftesbury Homes & Arethusa, whose chief executive is the former LabourMP Hilton Dawson, has detailed cases involving several local authoritiesto Children Now.
Sarah Gentles, the charity's education manager, said it is dealing witha "shocking" case at the moment where a top school has refused to admita looked-after child despite having a place available. The organisationis considering complaining to the Local Government Ombudsman. It followsthe charity's recent decision not to do this in another similarcase.
"Our lawyer said there was no doubt that the school acted unlawfully,"said Gentles. "But because the local education authority found the girla place in another school that wasn't as good, we decided not to spendthe year having a legal battle. The school said it couldn't cater forher needs. But she didn't have an appalling record and she had neverbeen permanently excluded."
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