Surrey County Council (19 001 885)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 25-Mar-2021

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to provide suitable educational provision for her son and to find him a suitable placement at a specialist school. She also says it took too long to issue him with an Education Health Care Plan. We found fault with the Council and it agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

Lancashire County Council (20 002 848)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 24-Feb-2021

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide her son, F, with suitable education following his permanent exclusion from school in March 2019. She also complained the Council delayed issuing F's Education, Health and Care Plan and delayed approving his post-16 placement. The Council provided F with suitable alternative provision in line with the law following his exclusion from school. It was at fault for failing to issue F's Education, Health and Care Plan in line with statutory timescales and for failing to name his post-16 placement before the start of the academic term. The Council agreed to apologise and pay Mrs X £300 to acknowledge F's loss of educational opportunity between September and November 2020. It also agreed to pay Mrs X £100 to acknowledge the frustration and time and trouble the matter caused her.

Birmingham City Council (20 002 072)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 16-Feb-2021

Summary: Ms X complained the Council did not provide any alternative educational provision for her son while he was out of school between April 2019 and November 2020. Ms X also complained the Council delayed in identifying an appropriate school for her son and failed to comply with the statutory timeframes for completing his EHC Plan. The Council's failure to provide Y with alternative educational provision between April 2019 and November 2020 amounts to fault. As does the delay in issuing a final EHC plan. These faults have caused Ms X and Y an injustice.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (20 000 861)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 04-Feb-2021

Summary: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council failed to properly investigate the concerns Mr and Mrs B expressed about the conduct of a mentor who visited their daughter in January. It then failed to properly address their complaint about this under its complaints procedures. The Council will now apologise and take action to remedy the injustice caused.

London Borough of Hounslow (19 019 418)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 01-Feb-2021

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to properly provide for Y's education when she told it she no longer wanted to educate him at home. The Council was at fault for delays in reviewing Y's Education, Health and Care plan and for failing to provide alternative education to Y while he was out of school. This meant Y was without suitable education for a year and caused Mrs X unnecessary stress, time and trouble. We recommend the Council makes a payment to Mrs X and to Y and makes service improvements to prevent the fault occurring again.

Oxfordshire County Council (20 002 153)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 29-Jan-2021

Summary: Mr X complained the Council took too long to issue his daughter's, Miss Y's, Education Health and Care plans and failed to arrange alternative education for her after she could not attend school because of health problems. We find the Council was at fault causing Miss Y to miss 25 weeks of education and causing avoidable distress for Mr X and his family. The Council has agreed to pay Mr X £250 to remedy this distress and review its policy on pupils unable to attend school because of ill health.

Surrey County Council (20 000 725)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 13-Jan-2021

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to provide appropriate advice regarding her options when she withdrew her son from school due to his ill health. She complains a council officer suggested she had acted illegally could be prosecuted if her son did not receive an appropriate full-time education. The Council's failure to provide full information or to direct Mrs X to the Council's other education teams for advice on her options amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X and Y an injustice.

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (19 020 355)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 12-Jan-2021

Summary: Ms F complains the Council failed to make alternative educational provision for her son. We have found fault that has caused her son to lose out on education and the family significant distress. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment for her son's educational benefit and review its commissioning arrangements for alternative provision.

Cornwall Council (19 014 211)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 12-Jan-2021

Summary: Ms X complained about the way the Council dealt with her daughter's Education Health and Care Plan. We found fault because the Council delayed in issuing the final Plan. The Council was also at fault in the way it dealt with the statutory Stage 2 investigation into Ms X's complaints as it failed to issue an apology as agreed with the recommendations in 2018. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and her daughter so we have completed our investigation.

Salford City Council (19 017 570)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 11-Jan-2021

Summary: The complainant says that the Council failed to provide alternative education to her son who was unable to attend his primary school because of ill health. The Council also delayed in completing the son's Education, Health and Care Plan. The Ombudsman finds fault causing injustice on both complaints. He has recommended actions to remedy the injustice and to improve future practice. The Council has agreed to these and therefore we have completed our investigation and are closing the complaint.