Summary: Miss X complained the Council did not provide her son, Y, a suitable education after he was permanently excluded from his school. We have found the Council at fault. Y was without the education and support he needed. The Council has agreed to take action remedy his injustice.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains her son Y was without a suitable education after being permanently excluded from school. She says this has impacted on her own wellbeing and wants her son back in education so he can receive appropriate support.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)
4. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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What I have and have not investigated

5. Miss X raised concerns after my investigation started that school transport was not put in place for Y starting school in September. I have not investigated these concerns, because they are new and are separate to the complaint Miss X originally brought to us (Y’s lack of education).

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Miss X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Statutory Guidance

8. The council has a statutory duty under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to provide full-time education where a child cannot attend school because of exclusion, medical reasons, or ‘otherwise’. 
9. If a child has been permanently excluded from school, the council must arrange alternative education from the sixth school day following the exclusion, although it may start sooner.
10. The law says that the education provided by the council must be full-time unless the council determines that full-time education would not be in the best interests for reasons of the child’s physical or mental health. (Education Act 1996, section 3A and 3AA)
11. Suitable education means efficient education suitable to a child’s age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he may have. (Education Act 1996, section 19 (6))

What happened

12. At the end of January 2025, Y was permanently excluded from school. The school wrote to Miss X explaining the decision, her right to make representations to the exclusions committee and how the local authority would provide suitable full-time education from the sixth school day after the exclusion.
13. Miss X says she complained to the Council at the end of February 2025 about Y not receiving education, but the Council did not respond.
14. In March 2025 Miss X was told that Y had been placed on the waiting list for alternative provision.
15. At the end of March 2025, Miss X wrote to the Council again, stating that Y was still without suitable education. The Council upheld her complaint, explaining there were no places in alternative provision and Y was too young to access online learning.
16. In early July 2025, the Council offered Y a place at an alternative provision and Miss X accepted the place towards the end of July, by which time the summer holidays were about to begin. She told the Council that she did not consider the placement suitable and wanted Y to return to mainstream education.
17. In October, Y began attending an alternative provision placement.
18. In response to my enquiries, the Council explained the reason for the delay in providing education, stating that no suitable provision was available for Y. It said an online learning package was considered, but a decision on funding was not received.

My findings

19. Although the Council upheld Miss X’s complaint, it did not provide her with any further update or resolution to the fact Y was out of education.
20. While the Council says it was waiting for a funding decision, it has not explained why the online learning option was not pursued further during this period.
21. The Council had a non-negotiable statutory duty to provide Y with a suitable education by the sixth day after his exclusion. The Council did not provide Y with a suitable full-time education between February 2025 and July 2025 (the point at which a place was offered at alternative provision). This is fault.
22. This means Y suffered an injustice, which the Council should now take action to remedy.
23. Although Miss X was not happy with the offer of alternative provision in July and said she would prefer Y to attend mainstream provision, the Council made what it believed to be suitable education available to Y, and it was not responsible for Miss X’s decision to delay accepting.
24. Because of this, the Council was only at fault for Y’s lack of education up to July, and not after.

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Action

25. Within five weeks of the date of my final decision, the Council has agreed to:
• Write to Miss X, apologising for the delay in providing Y with a suitable education. We publish guidance which sets out what we expect an effective apology to look like. The Council will consider this guidance when writing to Miss X.
• Make a symbolic payment of £1,500, to reflect Y’s loss of educational provision between February 2025 and July 2025.
26. The Council will provide us with evidence it has done these things.

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Decision

27. The Council was at fault. This caused injustice to Y, which the Council will now take action to address.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman