by Martin Jefferies

Some mums and dads in Thanet are still anxiously waiting to find where their children will be going to school - a month since the start of the new term.

Parents have even been asked not to call Kent County Council (KCC) for an update because admissions staff are so overwhelmed by the number of people applying for places through the casual admissions process.

These applications, which come from families moving to the county during term time, were previously handled by schools directly.

The long delay means some children are yet to step foot inside a classroom this year.

One parent from Ramsgate, who asked not to be named, started to look for places for her son five months ago, when the family returned to the UK from abroad.

She said: "I called a couple of local schools but was told that casual admissions now have to go through KCC. I sent the form back and was told to expect a reply within 13 days but three weeks later I was still waiting.

"KCC didn't want to talk to me on the phone because they said it stopped them processing data. I feel sorry for the staff who are under extra pressure and I can't fault the schools because they've been brilliant throughout.

"But the council should have been better prepared for this and should have brought in more administrative staff.

"It's not fair for children to be sat at home and falling behind with their education, especially when schools have places available."

She added: "Imagine if I hadn't brought my child to school for three weeks or had taken him on holiday during term time. The authorities would have been going crazy."

A spokesman for KCC said the previous Labour government was to blame for the delay.

He said: "This process was brought in to safeguard against families denied places drifting from school to school. In seeking to solve this problem, it has created a huge unnecessary burden on the local authority which results in every application being channelled through a single office.

"KCC warned of these problems at the time, recognising the scale and impact of such a change on a county the size of Kent."

The spokesman explained that KCC had received several hundred applications from parents.

"We understand their frustration and are doing every possible to find children the most appropriate school as quickly as possible," he said.

Advice for parents is available on the KCC website.