By Adele Robinson, Sky News Correspondent
Parents and campaigners claim a "postcode lottery" is deciding whether summer-born children are allowed to defer school for a year.
Department for Education guidance allows delays to a child's schooling until the September after their fifth birthday.
Some parents apply for school start deferral because they feel their son or daughter is not ready, emotionally or physically.
The government advice is designed to help children with birthdays between 1 April and 31 August.
However, campaigners say some admissions authorities are not letting children defer.
They also say some are pushing deferred children straight into Year 1, skipping reception class altogether.
Hayley Beards has been unsuccessful in an appeal for her son Zach to delay school by one year.
His fourth birthday is two weeks before term begins and he has speech difficulties.
"He will be expected to do things that a five-year-old can do, like go to the toilet by himself and get dressed by himself after PE," she said.
"I know he just won't be able to do that at just turned four ... in the long run he's at a disadvantage academically and socially."
An education psychologist assessed Zach and concluded it "wouldn't be of great benefit" to him if he deferred.
Living just a few miles away Rosie Dutton has been successful in her appeal for her daughter, Olivia, to defer school for a year, when she turns five.
But because some authorities are sending deferred children straight into Year 1, effectively skipping a year, she is worried the same might happen to her daughter.
"At any point during the school year the school can decide to take her out of that year group," she said.
"If a new head comes into the school they might change their mind, or if we move house, another county might not allow it.
"The DfE have legislated a subjective code which allows decisions to be made at local level resulting in a postcode lottery."
Guidance from the Department for Education was revised in December 2014.
It states that decisions are made at a local level based on the individual circumstances of each child.
It advises that parents' views, information about the child's development and, where relevant, their medical history must be considered.
Both parents told Sky News they want a "new and totally clear admissions code" that is enforced at a national level.
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