Summary: The Council was at fault for failing to provide Miss X’s child Y with a suitable education after they stopped attending school in February 2025. The Council has agreed to make a payment to remedy the injustice caused by the loss of education.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council:
• Failed to provide Y with a suitable education after they were excluded from school in February 2025; and
• Failed to adequately communicate with her about this.
2. As a result Y has missed out on a suitable education which has caused Miss X distress, frustration and uncertainty.

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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 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)
4. 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)
5. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision statement with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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What I have and have not investigated

6. The courts have established that if someone has appealed to the Tribunal, the law says we cannot investigate any matter which was part of, was connected to, or could have been part of, the appeal to the Tribunal. (R (on application of Milburn) v Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman [2023] EWCA Civ 207)
7. Miss X complained the Council did not carry out the agreed actions for Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan from the mediation meeting at the end of June 2025. Miss X said the Council agreed to consider Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) and arrange a Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) assessment, an Occupational Therapy (OT) assessment and a new Educational Psychology (EP) assessment. Miss X said she received a revised EHC Plan which did not reflect this.
8. I cannot investigate this part of Miss X complaint as she used her right of appeal to the SEND tribunal after receiving her mediation certificate. All points Miss X complained about are matters the tribunal can resolve.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

EHC Plan

11. A child or young person with special educational needs may have an Education, Health and Care (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. 

Mediation

12. Councils must arrange for a child’s parents or the young person to receive information about mediation as an informal way to resolve disputes about decisions that can be appealed to the Tribunal. Parents need to consider mediation and get a ‘mediation certificate’ before they can appeal to the Tribunal. They do not have to agree to attend mediation.
13. There is a right of appeal to the Tribunal against a council’s:

• decision not to carry out an EHC needs assessment or reassessment;
• decision that it is not necessary to issue a EHC Plan following an assessment;
• description of a child or young person’s SEN, the special educational provision specified, the school or placement or that no school or other placement is specified in their EHC Plan;
• amendment to these elements of an EHC Plan;
• decision not to amend an EHC Plan following a review or reassessment; and
• decision to cease to maintain an EHC Plan.

Section 19

14. Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 says that the council must arrange suitable alternative educational provision when it finds that a child is unable to attend school because of a permanent exclusion, an illness, or for any other reason which make the school inaccessible to the child. The alternative educational provision must be suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude, and any special educational needs they have.
15. We publish good practice guidance on how we expect councils to fulfil their responsibilities to identify and arrange alternative educational provision: Supporting children out of school (October 2025)
16. Our guidance says that councils should:

• consider all the reasons for a child’s absence from school, and make a written evidence-based decision about whether it will arrange alternative education provision;
• communicate this decision as a matter of good practice to parents and where it decides not to arrange alternative education tell parents the expectations about school attendance, and the potential consequences for continued absences;
• ensure the provision meets the individual needs of the child where it decides to arrange alternative education and explain its reasons for providing a part-time education if it decides the child cannot cope with full time provision;
• keep all cases of part-time education under review with a view to increasing when the child is able;
• work with parents and schools to draw up plans to reintegrate children to their normal educational setting as soon as possible, reviewing and amending plans as necessary; and
• ensure effective channels of communication between parents, internal teams, and external bodies (such as schools, and the NHS) so that issues are dealt with promptly by the right people, and that any complaints are identified and responded to under the relevant policy.

17. Where councils arrange for schools or other bodies to carry out their functions on their behalf, the council remains responsible. Therefore councils should retain oversight and control to ensure their duties are properly fulfilled.

What happened

18. Miss X has a child Y with special educational needs who was permanently excluded from school in February 2025. In April 2025, the Council issued a final EHC Plan for Y naming a specialist setting yet to be identified.
19. In August 2025, Miss X raised a complaint with the Council about the following:
• It had been over six months since Y was excluded from school and the Council had not provided a suitable education;
• The Council only put in place one hour of provision a week; and
• The Council had communicated poorly with emails often going unanswered or responded to vaguely.
20. Miss X has also told us the one hour of provision was only in place between May and September 2025.
21. The Council responded in early November 2025 as follows:
• It accepted the Council has not met its section 19 duty and provided a suitable education for Y between 3 February and 20 October 2025;
• This was 25 weeks of missed education. It proposed a remedy of £101 per week which equated to a total of £2525 for missed education; and
• It apologised for the communication issues Miss X had with the Council.
22. Miss X remained dissatisfied with the Council handling of the matter and complained to us.
23. The Council said it sought educational provision in November 2025 and this was available from early January 2026. However, Miss X has provided evidence that whilst the provider contacted her in January 2026, tuition was still not in place as of July 2026. Miss X said this was due to delays on the Council’s behalf. However, there are emails to Miss X showing the provider offering tuition in April 2026 for Y.
24. If Miss X remains dissatisfied with the delays from January 2026, it is for Miss X to make a new complaint to the Council as this is past the end point of my investigation.

My findings

Section 19

25. Miss X’s child Y was excluded from school on 3 February. The Council had a duty to put in place suitable alternative educational provision from the sixth day of exclusion. Full-time education is not defined, but is commonly held to be equivalent to between 22 and 25 hours a week. Y was only receiving one hour of education a week between May and September 2025. For the rest of the period under investigation he did not receive anything. The Council has accepted it did not meet its section 19 duty which was fault. As a result, Y has not received a suitable education between February 2025 and January 2026.
26. We found fault with the Council on a similar case. Following this, the Council agreed to review its alternative provision procedures to ensure it properly considers its section 19 duty as soon as it is aware a child is not attending school. We will continue to monitor this through our case work. Therefore, a further service improvement is not required

Recommendations

27. We typically recommend between £900 and £2400 per term in recognition of lost provision, depending on the severity of loss. For the period from 3 February until 20 October I am satisfied the £2525 offered by the Council is a sufficient remedy for the injustice caused by the Council’s fault. I have made a further recommendation to remedy the injustice throughout the period 21 October until January 2026, when the educational provider first made contact with Miss X.

Poor communication

28. The Council accepted it communication with Miss X was poor including vague responses to her queries or no response at all. This was fault which caused Miss X distress, frustration and uncertainty. The Council has apologised which I am satisfied is a suitable remedy for the injustice caused.

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Action

29. Within one month of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Pay Miss X £3,333 for the injustice caused by loss of education between February 2025 and January 2026. This should include the £2525 already offered to Miss X in the stage two complaint response.
30. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

31. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman