Middlesbrough Borough Council (23 001 014)

Statement Not upheld Alternative provision 24-Oct-2023

Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to provide suitable education for her daughter, Y, when she says Y was too unwell to attend school. She also said the Council did not allow her to home educate Y. The Council was not at fault.

Oxfordshire County Council (23 003 197)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 24-Oct-2023

Summary: The complainant, Ms X, complained about the lack of suitable alternative provision provided for her son who has been out of education. She also complained about the Councils lack of communication. Based on evidence seen, we find the Council was at fault. This caused significant stress to Ms X and her son was out of education. To address this injustice caused by fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make symbolic payments and remind staff of the relevant guidance.

Staffordshire County Council (23 003 195)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 23-Oct-2023

Summary: The Council was at fault for failing to deliver alternative provision to Mrs B’s son for several months while he was out of school, after accepting that it had a duty to do so. It has made improvements to its service. It has also agreed to make a symbolic payment to Mrs B to recognise her son’s injustice.

Hertfordshire County Council (22 016 964)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 19-Oct-2023

Summary: Mrs Y complained the Council failed to provide her child with a suitable education and complete the annual review of their Education, Health and Care plan within the statutory timescale. She also complained the Council communicated poorly with her about her child’s education. We have found fault by the Council causing injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this by apologising to Mrs Y and her child, making payments to recognise the impact of the missed education and reflect Mrs Y’s distress, frustration and time and trouble. It will also report to us on the progress with the EHC plan reviews and make service improvements.

Surrey County Council (23 001 509)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 19-Oct-2023

Summary: Mrs F complained the Council failed to provide her son with alternative provision when the school he was attending said it could not meet his needs. We find the Council was at fault as it failed to consider its duties under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 when Mrs F’s son stopped attending school. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

Warwickshire County Council (23 003 339)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 19-Oct-2023

Summary: There was no fault in the Council’s initial decision not to accept a duty to arrange alternative provision for a child not attending school; nor in the way it then sought to make arrangements once it did accept the duty. There was fault in the Council’s complaint handling, but this did not cause a significant injustice. We have therefore completed our investigation.

Leicestershire County Council (23 006 535)

Statement Not upheld Alternative provision 17-Oct-2023

Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to provide education for her child from November 2021 to June 2022. Ms X has appealed to the tribunal about her child’s Education Health Care Plan which is inextricably linked to their loss of education. We cannot investigate complaints when a person has appealed to the tribunal about the same matter, so I have ended our investigation.

Dorset Council (22 015 157)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 12-Oct-2023

Summary: Mrs X complained that the Council failed to provide alternative educational provision for her son, and communicated poorly with her. Mrs X said this impacted on her son’s education and caused unnecessary distress. We find the Council at fault which caused injustice. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to remedy the injustice.

Lincolnshire County Council (22 016 765)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 12-Oct-2023

Summary: The complainant (Miss X) said the Council failed to safeguard her son (Y), to comply with the statutory timescales for Education Health and Care (EHC) plan reviews, to provide Y with suitable alternative education, to arrange transport for Y to his new school from the beginning of the autumn term 2022 and to communicate adequately with Miss X and Y’s school. We found fault with the Council in most of the issues raised by Miss X. Some of these faults caused Y and Miss X injustice. We did not find fault with the Council’s safeguarding. The Council agreed to apologise and make symbolic payments to remedy the injustice caused to Y and Miss X.

Norfolk County Council (23 008 278)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Alternative provision 12-Oct-2023

Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s lack of alternative education provision for her son. This is because she has used her right to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.