Councils slash advice services on school admissions

Choice Advice was introduced under the Labour government to offer impartial guidance to parents applying for a school place for their child. Run by local authorities, the service was targeted particularly at disadvantaged families.

But according to data from 33 councils, 36 per cent are scrapping the service altogether while 33 per cent are reducing it.

Choice advisers help families with information about schools and completing application forms. According to figures from the previous administration, there were 250 advisers in 139 local authorities in 2008.

Under current legislation, local authorities are required to provide independent advice to parents deciding which school to send their children to. Choice Advice is one way of discharging that duty.

However, the draft school admissions code, which is out for consultation, proposes to end the duty on councils to offer "independent" support, while ringfenced funding for Choice Advice ceased in April.

Life saver for parents

Alistair McGarry, Barnardo's assistant director for the East of England, which is commissioned by Bradford and Luton councils to run Choice Advice services, said the school admissions system is testing for all parents, but warned that families with complex needs can find it "daunting, complicated and ultimately unachievable on their own".

"Being able to access free, independent advice is a life saver for some parents who are getting bogged down in paperwork or who are simply not in a position to make any application at all," he said.

"Without support and targeted advice on how to access the right schools for their children, we have seen how families who are experiencing issues such as disability, poverty, domestic violence or recent immigration to the UK, are left unfairly at the back of the queue."

The Advisory Centre for Education (Ace), which runs a helpline providing independent advice for parents and carers, said cuts to Choice Advice could lead to a rise in appeals against admission decisions. Ace spokeswoman Eleonora Christodoulides said: "The idea of Choice Advice was to level the playing field for those parents that struggle to understand admissions. With good advice, you're going to give parents a better understanding of the system, so they make better choices and there is less need for appeals."

Despite the cutbacks, 30 per cent of local authorities that responded to CYP Now's survey said they are maintaining the service this year.

Future of the service

Bob Badham, cabinet member for children and families in Sandwell, said its choice adviser is the only source of impartial support for local parents undergoing the school admissions process.

"The local authority's own parental survey shows that 86.6 per cent of parents who used the service feel more confident in dealing with the secondary school application process," he said.

Badham said schools in Sandwell are now paying for Choice Advice on a traded basis, despite the end of government funding. But he admitted that the future of the service depends on the government's new school admissions code, the consultation of which closes on 19 August.

STORY OF CHOICE ADVICE

• Choice advisers were first conceived in Labour's schools white paper, published in October 2005
• The scheme was introduced in 2006 to make school admissions more equitable by helping disadvantaged parents who have difficulty engaging with the process
• By 2008 there were an estimated 250 Choice advisers in 139 local authorities
• The service offers free, independent advice on school admissions
• Choice Advice is one way in which authorities can fulfil their legal duty to offer independent advice to parents choosing a school for their children