Summary: The Council was at fault as it failed to arrange any educational provision for Ms X’s child Y, who is a young adult, from September 2024 to January 2025, and it poorly communicated and handled her complaint. The Council apologised and offered to make a payment of £1600 to recognise the injustice caused from the loss of education and its poor communication and complaint handling. It also proposed to carry out service improvements to prevent recurrence of the faults. The Council’s proposed actions are an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused by the faults identified.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained on behalf of her child Y who is a young adult with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She complained the Council:
1. did not provide Y with an education for over two years until 2022 when Y was out of secondary school;
2. failed to secure a suitable educational provision for Y from September 2024 to January 2025;
3. did not take any action when Y struggled to attend college full time from January 2025 onwards; and,
4. poorly communicated and handled her complaint.
2. Ms X said as a result, Y’s wellbeing and education suffered and Ms X’s finances and wellbeing were impacted as well.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
7. 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)
8. 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(i), as amended)
9. 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 have and have not investigated

10. Ms X complained to us in December 2024 about matters that occurred in and before 2022. Ms X had known about the matters in complaint 1a) for more than 12 months and could have complained to us sooner. There are no good reasons to investigate that complaint now.
11. I have also not investigated Ms X’s complaint at 1c) above. The Council has not had the opportunity to consider this part of Ms X’s complaint yet. It is reasonable to expect her to complain to the Council first to allow it an opportunity to investigate and reply. If Ms X remains unhappy it is then open to her to complain to us.

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How I considered this complaint

12. I spoke to Ms X about her complaint.
13. I considered evidence provided by the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
14. Ms 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

15. A young person with special educational needs (SEN) may have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. This sets out the young person’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. We cannot direct changes to the sections about the young person’s needs, education, or the name of the educational placement. Only the SEND Tribunal or the council can do this.
16. The EHC Plan is set out in sections including:

• Section F: The special educational provision needed by the young person. 
• Section I: The name and/type of educational placement.

17. A young person can have an EHC plan up until the age of 25, if they remain in education and the Plan remains necessary.
18. 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.
19. Where there is a significant change in circumstances, such as a breakdown in a placement, we expect the Council to consider an interim review.
20. The council has a duty to make sure the young person receives the special educational provision set out in section F of an EHC Plan (Section 42 Children and Families Act).

The Council’s complaints policy

21. The Council publishes its complaints policy on its website:

• It will provide a written response at stage one within 15 working days.
• It will provide a written response at stage two within 20 working days.

22. If it needs more time, the Council will contact complainants to explain why and give them a revised date.

What happened

23. This section sets out the key events in this case and is not intended to be a detailed chronology.
24. Y is a young adult with special educational needs (SEN) who lives at home with Ms X. Y started at college A in September 2022.
25. In January 2023 the Council issued Y’s first Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan naming college A in section I of their Plan. Ms X said Y stopped attending college A a couple of months later.
26. The Council arranged a “transitional package” for Y at an alternative provision from September 2023 with the aim to reintegrate them back in a mainstream placement. Y attended this alternative provision until Summer 2024.
27. Over the course of early 2024 Ms X contacted the Council to understand arrangements for Y’s education for the next academic year but she said she did not receive any correspondence from the Council until July 2024.
28. In late August 2024 the Council sent a consultation to college A for an immediate start. It refused.
29. In mid-September 2024 Ms X complained to the Council that Y was out of education, she had no clarity on Y’s educational provision for the current academic year and that the Council had not responded to any of her previous correspondence regarding this matter.
30. In late October 2024 the Council sent a consultation to college B. College B offered a place to Y soon after.
31. In early November the Council met with Ms X to discuss Y’s placement at college B and the next steps involved in securing this placement. In the following month, the Council’s resource panel agreed to commission Y’s placement at college B.
32. In late November 2024 the Council issued its stage one complaint response. It apologised for its delayed response. It accepted that its communication regarding Y’s educational placement had been poor and noted that Ms X had recently met with the Council to discuss Y’s placement at college B and the next steps involved in securing this placement. It was chasing college B for costs and other details and would keep Ms X updated.
33. In December 2024 Ms X asked the Council to escalate her complaint to stage two of its complaints process because Y had missed education, the Council had not taken prompt action to ensure provision was available from September 2024 and it had continued to be poor in its communication. Ms X also complained to us.
34. In January 2025 Ms X arranged for Y to start transition to college B.
35. In late January 2025 the Council emailed Ms X and acknowledged that there had been a delay in the commissioning process which had impacted Y’s reintegration plan to college B. It apologised to Ms X and told her it was looking to progress this matter urgently.
36. Ms X said Y started at college B in February 2025.
37. In late February 2025 the Council wrote to Y with a proposal to amend section I of their EHC Plan to name college B.
38. In March 2025 the Council issued Y’s final amended EHC Plan:

• Section I of Y’s amended EHC Plan named college B starting February 2025.
• Section F of Y’s amended EHC Plan outlined the educational provision they must receive in an educational setting and delivered by teaching staff.

39. In late May 2025 the Council issued an investigation report into Ms X’s complaint which:

• explained that the Council had not kept accurate and up to date electronic records for Y which meant they “fell through a gap” in its system. It said college A was tasked with holding Y’s annual review and the Council would have sent it a request to hold this review in Spring 2024. The Council had not recognised that Y was no longer on roll at college A and therefore their EHC Plan had not been updated. It missed an opportunity to intervene and hold Y’s annual review.
• accepted the Council had failed to respond to Ms X’s correspondence in a timely manner which was another missed opportunity to arrange provision for Y from September 2024.
• made recommendations for the Council to consider a personal remedy (an apology and symbolic payment) and service improvements (reminder to staff about the importance of adhering to statutory obligations regarding annual reviews and good record-keeping and communication) to prevent the recurrence of the same issues.

40. Following the investigation report, the Council issued a stage two complaint response in early June 2025. In it, the Council:

• apologised to Ms X and Y for the injustice caused from one term of missed education, its poor communication and delayed complaint responses.
• reassured Ms X that it would communicate the importance of adhering to statutory guidance and timescales as well as timely communication and good record keeping to all its staff to improve its service.
• offered Ms X a payment of £1200 to recognise the impact of one term of missed provision and a further £400 for the frustration and uncertainty caused by its poor communication and delayed complaint responses.

Findings

Loss of educational provision

41. Councils have a duty to secure the provision set out in Section F of an EHC Plan in line with section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014. This duty is non-delegable. Councils must also arrange for the EHC Plan to be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it is up to date.
42. While the Council arranged a transitional package of support for Y when they stopped attending college A, it failed to hold an annual review or consult other providers. This was fault.
43. Y’s EHC Plan was based on Y attending an educational setting. The Council accepted it failed to secure an educational placement for Y to attend in time for the 2024 academic year. This delay in securing college B was fault. It meant Y was out of education from September 2024 to January 2025 and did not receive the educational provision set out in their EHC Plan and that was a significant injustice.
44. The Council apologised to Ms X and Y in writing, in line with our guidance on remedies. It offered to make a symbolic payment of £1200 in recognition of the injustice caused from one missed term of education. It also agreed to remind staff of the Council’s duties to adhere to the statutory timescales to prevent recurrence of the same fault.
45. The Council’s proposed personal remedy is in line with our guidance on remedies and I consider it sufficiently remedies the injustice caused to Ms X and Y. We recently made service improvement recommendations to the Council on similar matters in a separate investigation therefore I have not considered it necessary to repeat these on Ms X’s complaint.

Communication and complaint handling

46. The Council accepted its communication with Ms X was poor. Ms X asked the Council for clarity regarding Y’s educational placement on several occasions and the Council provided no evidence to show it responded to Ms X’s requests in a timely manner. This was fault and caused Ms X avoidable frustration.
47. The Council also took over eight months to complete its investigation into Ms X’s complaint of September 2024 when its published policy outlines timescales of 15 and 20 working days for stage one and two complaint responses respectively. This was fault which added to Ms X’s frustration.
48. The Council offered Ms X a payment of £400 to recognise the injustice caused from its faults. It also proposed to take action to prevent recurrence of the same fault by reminding its staff of the importance of timely and effective communication and complaint handling.
49. The Council’s proposed personal remedy is in line with our guidance on remedies and I do not consider a further recommendation is needed to remedy the avoidable frustration caused. We recently made service improvement recommendations to the Council regarding its communication and complaint handling in a separate investigation, so I have not considered it necessary to repeat these again.

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Agreed action

50. Within one month of this decision the Council will:
1. Pay Ms X £1200 to recognise the injustice caused due to the loss of educational provision from September 2024 to January 2025 in line with our guidance on remedies.
2. Pay Ms X £400 for the avoidable frustration caused by the Council’s poor communication and delayed complaint responses.
51. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

52. I found fault causing injustice and the Council’s proposed actions are an appropriate remedy for that injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman