Suffolk County Council (18 019 738)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 25-Nov-2019

Summary: fault by the Council meant B did not receive education for six weeks following his permanent exclusion from school.

Essex County Council (19 004 831)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 21-Nov-2019

Summary: Miss X complains the Council failed to provide suitable education to her son Y following his exclusion. The Ombudsman finds the Council at fault and recommends it provides an apology and makes a payment for loss of education.

Surrey County Council (18 014 395)

Statement Not upheld Alternative provision 20-Nov-2019

Summary: there is no fault by the Council in relation to the action it took to provide Y with education between May 2017 and January 2019. The Ombudsman cannot look at education provision from January 2019 because Ms G exercised her right to appeal to the SEN Tribunal at that time.

Cumbria County Council (19 000 331)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Alternative provision 01-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because the complaint is about the actions of his daughter’s school, rather than the Council’s statutory responsibilities. The complaint is therefore outside our jurisdiction with no discretion to investigate.

Essex County Council (18 004 457)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 25-Sep-2019

Summary: After a previous finding by the Ombudsman, Mrs X complains the Council continues to fail to provide her son with a suitable education and the special education needs provision he is entitled to. The Ombudsman found there was fault by the Council when it took too long to carry out a reassessment of her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan. It also failed to put in place suitable alternative provision for his education for five months after his school excluded him. This fault caused a significant injustice to her and her son and the Council has accepted our recommendation it should apologise and pay a financial remedy.

Hertfordshire County Council (18 010 050)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 06-Sep-2019

Summary: Mr C complained his daughter, D, had been without appropriate education since December 2014. There is evidence of Council fault from October to November 2017 and the Council has been asked to consider approaching D’s specialists to identify what education and support it should now put in place.

London Borough of Camden (18 018 426)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 27-Aug-2019

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide alternative education for her son, Z, for almost a year when he was unable to attend mainstream school due to illness. She said this had a negative impact on her son and his GCSE results. The Council was at fault when it failed to secure tuition for Z for three months after it had received information that he was unable to attend school. The Council should make a payment of £800 to Mrs X to recognise the injustice Z suffered when he did not receive an education for three months.

Surrey County Council (18 003 277)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 21-Aug-2019

Summary: Ms E complains on behalf of Mx F, about the support offered to Mx F when they could not attend school because of illness. We find fault in the Council’s response to contacts about Mx F’s absence. We consider this caused injustice to Mx F as both a loss of service and distress; as well as causing separate injustice to Ms E. The Council has agreed action to remedy the complaint set out at the end of this statement.

Northamptonshire County Council (18 018 062)

Statement Not upheld Alternative provision 07-Aug-2019

Summary: Miss X complains that the Council failed to meet its duty to make alternative educational provision for her daughter when she was permanently excluded from school. The Ombudsman has found no fault by the Council.

Northamptonshire County Council (18 018 081)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 07-Aug-2019

Summary: Miss X complained about a delay in producing an Education Health and Care Plan for her daughter and failure to provide alternative education for her. Based on the evidence seen, the Ombudsman finds there was delay and the Council failed to ensure the child received full-time education when she was out of school. The Council has agreed to the Ombudsman’s recommendations.