Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to provide education to a child out of school because the Council has agreed a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council did not support her son, Y, when his school attendance dropped from September 2021 and it did not provide alternative provision.
2. She says Y missed six months’ education and she then funded an online school at her own cost at £2500 per term. She says her and Y’s health has suffered.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Any fault and injustice has been ongoing since September 2021. I consider this is a good reason to exercise discretion on time.
9. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing Mrs X and Y injustice. This is because the Council should have either acted to ensure school attendance or arranged alternative provision while Y was out of school, however it did neither.
10. Y missed education from September 2021 to February 2022 and Mrs X then incurred costs arranging education herself.
11. We therefore asked to the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by taking the following actions to resolve the complaint early.
12. Within one month:
• Pay Mrs X £500 for the distress and uncertainty suffered by her and her son.
• Pay Mrs X £4800 in recognition of two terms missed education provision (September 2021 to February 2022)
• Pay Mrs X £10,000 to reimburse costs she has incurred on four terms education to date.
• Arrange to fund the online academy going forward until the Council secures a place for Y in school or arranges other suitable alternative provision and;
13. Within three months:
• Put in place oversight/monitoring as needed so that any lack of action by an education welfare officer in relation to school attendance is picked up and escalated promptly.

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Agreed action

14. To its credit the Council agreed to resolve the complaint. It will take the actions outlined at paragraphs 12 and 13 to put things right.

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Final decision

15. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X and improving its service for others.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman