The use of lotteries to allocate school places is to be reviewed by the Government as it emerges that more than 20 per cent of children are failing to get into their first-choice schools in parts of the country.

Competition for secondary school places has reached record levels this year, increasing anxiety for hundreds of thousands of families. A survey by The Times of 43 local authorities suggests that in many areas up to a fifth of children face disappointment. Families in London are the hardest hit

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, is setting up an inquiry into the part played by lotteries, arguing that “in some areas, this is the fairest way of resolving a tiny minority of decisions”.

This week is admissions week, when about 570,000 families will be receiving their secondary school offers. As the recession forces more parents to consider a state education rather than a private one for their child, early indications are that more than a third of local authorities have seen rises in applications for secondary school places.

This year, just 62 per cent of parents in Richmond upon Thames got into their first-choice school, down from 64 per cent last year. The council said the fall was after a rise in applications.

In another London authority, Tower Hamlets, 72.1 per cent of parents got their first choice. In Leeds and Warwickshire 85 per cent were successful, in Derby it was 81 per cent, while in Wiltshire, Stockport and Lincolnshire the figure was 89 per cent.

In many authorities the figures are similar to last year. Exceptions include Brighton and Hove, which introduced a lottery system to allocate oversubscribed places last year. This year, it has seen a 3.5 per cent increase in the number of children gaining their first choice, bringing the total to nearly 88 per cent.

However, more than 5 per cent of children in the area have been allocated a place at a school that did not appear among any of their choices.

In Blackpool, there was a 7.4 per cent increase in the number of children gaining admission to their preferred school, bringing the total to 96 per cent.

In several local authorities more than 90 per cent of children gained admission to their first choice of school, the highest being Stockton-on-Tees, with 96.9 per cent.

Mr Balls, accepted that nearly 20 per cent of parents in some areas would not obtain a place at their preferred school. “More than eight out of ten parents get their first choice, but until every school is a good school and there isn’t a concentration of oversubscription in some, then there is going to be disappointment, so there is more to do,” he said.

“I have sympathy with the view that a lottery system can feel arbitrary, random and hard to explain to children in years five and six who don’t know what’s going to happen and don’t know which children in their class they’re going to be going on to secondary school with,” he said.

Lotteries are being used, at the Government’s own suggestion, by a small number of oversubscribed schools in around 25 local authorities.

They were meant to prevent middle class parents from playing the system, by buying or renting homes close to the best schools.

The bottom ten
Proportion of children getting into their first-choice school:

62% Richmond upon Thames
72.1% Tower Hamlets
76.7% Blackburn w Darwen
77% Middlesbrough
80.6% Derby City
83% Darlington Borough
84% Northamptonshire
85% Warwickshire
85.3% Leeds
80.6% Gloucestershire

The Times surveyed 150 local authorities by phone and email between February 25 and 27 and got 43 responses.

Has your child missed out on their preferred secondary school this year? If you would like to tell your story, please email alex.frean@thetimes.co.uk

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