Summary: The Council was at fault for the time it took to issue a final Education, Health and Care Plan after an annual review and for not putting in place suitable education for a child when they were out of school. This meant the child missed out on education they should have received. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to recognise the loss of education.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council:
• Took too long to issue a final Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan after an emergency annual review.
• Did not provide her child with suitable education or a new school placement when they could no longer attend school.

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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

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How I considered this complaint

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

Law and guidance

7. A child or young person with special educational needs may have an EHC Plan. This document sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The EHC Plan is set out in sections. We cannot direct changes to the sections about their needs, education, or the name of the educational placement. Only the Tribunal or the council can do this. 
8. The council must arrange for the EHC Plan to be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it is up to date. The council must complete the review within 12 months of the first EHC Plan and within 12 months of any later reviews. The annual review begins with consulting the child’s parents or the young person and the educational placement. A review meeting must then take place. The process is only complete when the council issues its decision to amend, maintain or cease to maintain the EHC Plan. This must happen within four weeks of the meeting. (Section 20(10) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.176) 
9. Where the council proposes to amend an EHC Plan, the law says it must send the child’s parent or the young person a copy of the existing (non-amended) Plan and an accompanying notice providing details of the proposed amendments, including copies of any evidence to support the proposed changes. (Section 22(2) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.194). Case law sets out this should happen within four weeks of the date of the review meeting. Case law also found councils must issue the final amended EHC Plan within a further eight weeks.
10. Councils must “make arrangements for the provision of suitable education at school or otherwise than at school for those children of compulsory school age who, by reason of illness, exclusion from school or otherwise, may not for any period receive suitable education unless such arrangements are made for them.” (Education Act 1996, section 19(1))
11. The statutory guidance says the duty to provide a suitable education applies “to all children of compulsory school age resident in the council area, whether or not they are on the roll of a school, and whatever type of school they attend”.
12. 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))
13. The education provided by the council must be full-time unless the council determines that full-time education would not be in the child’s best interests for reasons of the child’s physical or mental health. (Education Act 1996, section 3A and 3AA)
14. The law does not define full-time education but children with health needs should have provision which is equivalent to the education they would receive in school. If they receive one-to-one tuition, for example, the hours of face-to-face provision could be fewer as the provision is more concentrated. (Statutory guidance, ‘Ensuring a good education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs’)

What happened

15. Ms X’s child Y has special educational needs. Y stopped attending school in April 2024. In May 2024, the Council held an emergency annual review of Y’s EHC Plan. The review notes showed Y’s school could no longer meet their needs and was not going to allow Y to return. The notes also showed both Y and Ms X did not consider the school suitable for Y. Ms X also expressed her concerns that Y’s EHC Plan was very out of date and needed amending.
16. Following the annual review meeting, the Council agreed to amend Y’s EHC Plan.
17. In June 2024, the Council commissioned some alternative provision for Y to start in September 2024 of three hours per week. In July 2024, Y was taken off roll at the school they previously attended.
18. In September 2024, Y started their alternative provision but only attended a few sessions. The alternative provision provider told the Council in October 2024, it could no longer meet Y’s needs.
19. In November 2024, the Council told Ms X it would start to consult with some specialist schools and look for suitable alternative provision until it found a school place.
20. The Council consulted with five schools in early December 2024 to see if they could offer Y a placement. Four schools responded to say they could not and the other school did not respond. The Council also consulted with five alternative education providers but all of them said they could not support Y.
21. Ms X complained to the Council on 30 December 2024. Ms X complained the Council had not provided Y with a school place despite Y being out of school since April 2024.
22. In early January 2025, the Council responded to Ms X’s complaint. The Council upheld her complaint that it had not found a school placement for Y or provided suitable education. The Council said it consulted with schools but none of them could offer Y a placement. The Council said it had also looked for alternative provision for Y but accepted there were periods of delays. The Council said it had some staff changes and this meant its communication with Ms X was not up to its standards. The Council told Ms X it would issue her with a final EHC Plan by the end of January 2025 following the May 2024 annual review.
23. On 30 January 2025, the Council issued a final EHC Plan for Y.
24. Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint at the next stage of its process in late January 2025. The Council provided its final response to Ms X’s complaint in February 2025. The Council said it was happy with the response it provided at stage one but agreed to provide Ms X with more information about how it consulted with schools and alternative education providers in December 2024.
25. In June 2025 the Council put in place three hours of provision for Y. The Council also paid Ms X £800 to recognise the loss of provision to Y for the summer term 2025 as part of a further complaint she made.
26. In September 2025, the Council held an annual review of Y’s EHC Plan. The Council decided to carry out a reassessment of Y’s special educational needs.
27. In November 2025, the Council put in place 15 hours per week of alternative provision for Y. For nine of these hours Y attended an alternative provider and for the other six hours Y had a tutor at home. Ms X does not consider the provision is suitable for Y.

Analysis

Delays issuing Y’s EHC Plan

28. The Council held an emergency annual review on 23 May 2025. It did not issue a final EHC Plan until 30 January 2025. This was fault. The Council should have issued a final EHC Plan within 12 weeks of the annual review meeting, so by 15 August 2024. Ms X and Y have had to wait over five months longer than they should have to receive an amended EHC Plan. Ms X would not have known what support Y was entitled to receive due to the delays issuing the EHC Plan. This caused her frustration and anxiety.

Delays putting in place alternative education

29. I have considered whether Y received suitable education from when they stopped attending school in April 2024 until the Council put in place a package of alternative provision in November 2025. Any concerns Ms X has about the provision now in place she would need to raise as a complaint with the Council in the first instance.
30. The Council became aware in April 2024 that Y stopped attending school so called an emergency annual review. It was clear from the annual review meeting notes that Y could not return to this school placement.
31. While I recognise the Council consulted with an alternative provider in June 2024, it did not arrange anything for Y for the rest of the summer school term. This was fault.
32. After the Council became aware, in October 2024, that the alternative provision it put in place broke down, it did not look for further alternative provision until December 2024.
33. Y was taken off their school roll in July 2024, however the Council did not consult with any schools until December 2024, despite knowing Y did not have a school place. This was fault. It took the Council until June 2025 to put in place some provision for Y. Then in November 2025, the Council put in place a package of alternative provision for Y. This meant Y did not have education (except a few sessions of alternative provision in September 2024) from the end of the summer term 2024 until mid-Autumn term 2025. This is roughly around 4 terms. However in June 2025 the Council put in place three hours per week of provision and paid Ms X £800 as part of another complaint to recognise the loss of provision to Y in the 2025 summer term.
34. The Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies recommends that where we have found fault which has resulted in loss of education we will usually recommend a remedy payment of between £900 and £2,400 per term to acknowledge the impact of that loss. In coming to a suitable figure I considered Y was a child with special educational needs and did not receive any education apart from a few sessions of alternative provision in September 2024. For the summer term 2025 I considered the few hours of provision the Council put in place and the £800 payment it made were sufficient to remedy the injustice caused for this term. Therefore I have asked the Council to remedy three terms of education.
35. I also considered Ms X experienced injustice as a result of the Council not providing suitable education for Y. Y has spent all of this time at home which has been difficult for Ms X to cope with and impacted on her ability to work.

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Agreed Action

36. Within one month of my final decision the Council agreed to carry out the following:
• Apologise to Ms X for the injustice caused by the above faults. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Ms X £500 to recognise the distress and frustration she experienced as a result of the five month delay issuing Y’s final EHC Plan following the emergency review.
• Pay Ms X £6,600 to recognise the loss of education to Y. This has been calculated as 3 terms of education at £2,200 per term.
• Pay Ms X £400 to recognise the distress, anxiety and frustration she experienced as a result of Y not receiving education and the impact on her of having Y at home during this time.
37. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

I find fault causing injustice. The Council agreed to the above actions to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman