Less parents won appeals against school places across the county, figures reveal.

Department for Education data shows in Hertfordshire, parents took 725 cases against their child’s school placement for the 2020-21 academic year to an appeal hearing, with 131 successful – a win rate of 18 per cent.

This was down from the year before, when it was 22 per cent, and lower than the national average of 19 per cent.

In Hertfordshire, 83 per cent of pupil applicants were offered a first-choice school place last year and the number of appeals heard works out as two per cent of all admissions, down from 2.3 per cent the previous year.

Of the outcomes, parents of secondary school-age pupils were more likely to win than those of primary school pupils, with a success rate of 23% compared to 6%.

Across England, the number of appeals heard fell sharply last year, from 48,100 in 2019-20 to 41,100 in 2020-21.

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The DfE said measures were put in place to let parents to appeal during the pandemic. A spokesperson said: "Every child should have a fair chance of getting into their parents’ preferred school and councils and schools work extremely hard to try and ensure that as many pupils as possible are allocated their first preference.”

A Department for Education said with an increase in schools found to be "good" or "outstanding" by Ofsted inspectors since 2010, parents could be "confident their child will get the high-quality education they deserve".

A spokesperson added: "School admissions appeal panels are independent bodies and make decisions on an individual basis, without admission authority involvement in the decision.

“The number of appeals heard in each area varies widely, so the number of successful appeals cannot be meaningfully compared as the volume can impact the success rate of appeals.”