Consultation on revised Fair Access Protocol

It is a statutory duty under paragraph 3.14 of the School Admissions Code that "each local authority must have a Fair Access Protocol to ensure that unplaced and vulnerable children, and those who are having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible." The Protocol must be consulted upon and agreed by the majority of schools in its area. Once it has been agreed all schools must take part in it. 

New Statutory guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools and local authorities Working Together to Improve School Attendance will come into force on 19 August 2024 and will change fair access practice. This has required the Fair Access Protocol to be revised to take account of these changes.  

The pertinent change for schools is outlined in paragraph 208 and relate to offers being made of a school place: 

Most school admissions involve the school or admission authority offering a place to the parent of the prospective pupil or, in the case of admission to sixth form, the prospective pupil. An offer of a place is not an agreement. Before a pupil can be registered at a school the parent (or prospective pupil) must have accepted the offer, either by agreeing the starting day in advance or the pupil attending the school on that day. In the normal admissions round, when parents have accepted the school place and starting day offered, the local authority can communicate that agreement to schools on behalf of the parent. This can also be the case where the local authority co-ordinate in-year applications for school places. 

Until now guidance has required schools to place a pupil on roll with immediate effect following an allocation. Under the new guidance a school is required to place a pupil on roll once the parent has confirmed they accept the offer. This relates to all offers made by Fair Access and Admissions. 

For allocations made at Fair Access Panels or directly to schools the Fair Access & Exclusions Team will send a letter to parent advising them of school offered and will ask for confirmation they are accepting the place. There will be 3 possible outcomes, 

1. Parent accepts offer and Fair Access sends out the formal offer letter to school and parent. At this point school will place on roll and contact parent to arrange admission. 
2. Parent refuses the place. 
3. Parent does not respond.

For outcomes 2 and 3, Fair Access will refer to CME who will advise parent the offer remains the one and only offer being made by the local authority and they have the right to appeal any school that have refused a place. If no response or further engagement comes from parent a School Attendance Order (SAO) will be sought. For places offered following a Fair Access Panel, the meeting and the minutes of that meeting will serve as the formal consultation with the school that is undertaken as part of the SAO process. 

The revised Fair Access Protocol (PDF, 405 KB) is attached. Any responses to this consultation should be sent to cs.fairaccessteam@norfolk.gov.uk . As it is necessary for a majority of schools to agree to the Protocol, a non-response to this communication will be taken and recorded as acceptance of the revised Protocol. It is proposed that the revised Protocol will take effect on 19 August 2024.