Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council failing to provide alternative education for her child, because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X says her child was unable to attend school from December 2024 – July 2025. She complains the Council failed to provide her child with alternative education during this time.
2. Miss X also complains about poor communication from the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X informed the Council her child was unable to attend school at the end of April 2025, and asked the Council to make alternative provison for her child under its Section 19 duty. The Council tried to resolve the situation with the child’s school and agreed the funding within 24 hours so alternative provision could be started at the beginning of July.
7. Miss X refused this provision as her relationship with the school had broken down. The Council then liaised with other providers so alternative provision would start in September.
8. The Council was not aware of the matter until the end of April 2025, so cannot be held responsible for the lack of provision before then. Once it was made aware, alternative educational provision was made available to Miss X’s child but she did not accept it.
9. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation, so we will not investigate this matter.
10. The Council said in its complaint response there may not have been as much contact as Miss X would have liked between April and July, but the case worker was corresponding a lot with the school to try and get the alternative provision in place. The Council apologised for this and said it was recruiting in September so this should improve the service. We will not investigate this point as there is nothing further we could add to the Council’s investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman