Grieving families sent school application letters for their dead children - National

Norfolk County Council's error resulted in school admissions letters being posted to parents of 42 children who had died, with two of the children from the same family.

One of the parents said that when she read the letter she felt ‘like someone was twisting the knife into an already broken heart’.

Another parent added: ‘It was awful. I just fell down and couldn't stop crying.’

The letter stated: ‘Your child is due to start school in a reception class from September 2020 and it is now time for you to apply for a school place.’

Councillor Andrew Proctor, leader of Norfolk County Council, said: ‘We are truly sorry for the pain and distress caused to the families who were mistakenly sent a schools admissions letter about their child who had sadly passed away.

‘At the moment, our priority is contacting the families concerned so we can apologise to them directly.

‘This should never have happened in the first place and we offer our most sincere apologies to all the families involved.’

Councillor Proctor assured parents that once the council realised what had happened they launched a full investigation to ensure “such a mistake does not happen again”.

It’s not the first time councils have made this mistake. In 2018, Manchester City Council had to apologise after 95 school admissions letters were reportedly sent to grieving families.