Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has failed to make appropriate educational provision for the complainant’s son while he has been unable to attend school. There is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains that the Council has failed to make appropriate educational provision for her son while he has been unable to attend school.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X says her son has not had access to appropriate education since December 2024. She says she asked for an annual review of his Education Health and Care plan in November 2024 and again in June 2025 as no effective provision had been made. She says an attempt to implement a part-time timetable from January 2025 was unsuccessful.
6. Miss X says the Council’s failure to ensure her son has access to education has detrimentally affected his welfare and that of her family. She does not believe her son will be able to re-enter a school environment.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part. The Council’s complaint response indicates that it was unaware of the matter until the end of May 2025. It cannot therefore be held responsible for the lack of provision before then.
8. The response sets out the Council’s intention to put support in place to build up the provision available to Miss X’s son and revisit the matter in September 2025. This is a reasonable course of action and there are no grounds for the Ombudsman to criticise it. Our intervention is not therefore warranted.

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Final decision

9. 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