Summary: Ms X’s child was without education for approximately one term and the Council communicated poorly with Ms X. This caused injustice and the Council apologised. It agreed to also make a payment to Ms X.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to provide her child’s special educational provision. She also complained the Council communicated poorly with her. She said many educational placements have failed meaning her child had little education for years.
2. Ms X said it impacted her child’s mental health and wellbeing, and caused a lack of socialisation with peers. She said she had to give up work because there was no suitable education placement. She said it also impacted her mental health.

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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. The Ombudsman’s view, based on caselaw, is that ‘service failure’ is an objective, factual question about what happened. A finding of service failure does not imply blame, intent or bad faith on the part of the council involved. There may be circumstances where we conclude service failure has occurred and caused an injustice to the complainant despite the best efforts of the council. This still amounts to fault. We may recommend a remedy for the injustice caused and/or that the council makes service improvements. (R (on the application of ER) v CLA (LGO) [2014] EWCA civ 1407)
5. 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)
6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. 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)
8. 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

9. As I have said above, we cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
10. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman in May 2025 about the Council’s actions from at least January 2024, and the impact on her child of the Council’s actions over the previous three or four years.
11. I considered Ms X’s reasons for not complaining to us earlier. I found no good reasons to exercise our discretion and look back any further than 12 months before she complained to us.
12. For this reason, I have investigated from May 2024 (12 months before Ms X complained to us) to May 2025 (when she complained to us).

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How I considered this complaint

13. I considered the information and documents provided by Ms X and the Council. I spoke to Ms X about her complaint. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement. I considered all comments received before I reached a final decision.
14. I considered the relevant legislation and statutory guidance, set out below. I also considered the Ombudsman’s published guidance on remedies.

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What I found

What should have happened

15. A child or young person with special educational needs may have an education, health and care (EHC) plan. This plan sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them.
16. The council has a duty to make sure the child or young person receives the special educational provision set out in section F of an EHC plan. (Section 42 Children and Families Act)  

What happened

17. Ms X’s child, B, has an education, health and care (EHC) plan. In early 2024, B’s educational placement stopped providing B’s education. The Council consulted a number of other placements. Ms X said she wanted B to go to a specific alternative provider (who I will call Provider T).
18. In August, the Council’s panel did not agree to Provider T because it was not registered with Ofsted. In September, the panel agreed to provide five hours’ tuition a week. Tuition started that month but did not last long.
19. In January 2025, Ms X complained. She said the tuition had failed because B’s needs were not met. She said the Council told her that alternative providers had to be registered with Ofsted but she found out this was not true.
20. The Council said it had provided B’s provision in line with their EHC plan. It said when a placement failed it found an alternative. It said for children with EHC plans at least half of their education must be with an Ofsted-registered provider. The Council said its own regulations and procedures did not allow students to access alternative provision that was not registered with Ofsted. It apologised if there had been miscommunication about that.
21. The Council said B had not engaged with tuition so tuition stopped. It said its panel would discuss the next steps. It apologised for the break in B’s education. It also apologised for any inadequate or inconsistent communication.
22. In March, the Council agreed that B could attend with Provider T once a week.
23. In April, in its second response to Ms X’s complaint, the Council said its communication had been inconsistent. It said that despite its best efforts, B had no education in place from April to October 2024 (when tuition began). It apologised for the impact on B.
24. The Council said it had given correct advice to Ms X about Provider T but accepted it was confusing.

Analysis

Provision

25. Miss X complained the Council failed to provide her child B’s special educational provision.
26. May to October 2024
27. The Council accepted that from May to October 2024, despite its best efforts, it did not provide B with the provision they were entitled to. This is service failure. As I have set out above, a finding of service failure does not imply blame, intent or bad faith on the part of the council involved. In this case, despite the Council’s best efforts, the lack of education caused B an injustice.
28. I am satisfied the Council apologised for this injustice.
29. October 2024 to May 2025
30. The Council put tuition in place in October. This stopped in December because B had not been attending or engaging. The Council then arranged for another tuition provider to take over. This started in February 2025 and continued beyond May 2025 (the end of the scope of my investigation).
31. I find the Council put tuition in place as it should have done. When the placement broke down because of B’s lack of engagement and attendance, the Council found a new provider. This is good practice. For this reason, I do not find the Council at fault.

Communication

32. Miss X complained the Council communicated poorly with her.
33. The Council accepted its communication with Ms X was inconsistent. This is fault. This caused injustice because it caused uncertainty. The Council apologised for this injustice. I am satisfied the Council’s apology is a suitable and proportionate remedy for the level of injustice caused.

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Action

34. Within four weeks of this decision, the Council has agreed to make a payment of £900 to Ms X.
35. In arriving at this figure, I considered our published guidance on remedies which sets out a minimum of £900 per term of missed educational provision. I considered that when the Council put tuition in place, there were problems with B’s attendance and engagement. I therefore cannot say that if the Council had put tuition in place earlier B would have benefited from it. I also considered the length of time: from April to October is just over one term.
36. Taking everything into account, I find that a payment at the lowest end of our range for a term of missed provision is appropriate and proportionate. This is £900.
37. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above action.

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Decision

38. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman