Summary: Ms X complained that the Council failed to deliver the education and support set out in her son Y’s Education, Health and Care plan. She said this impacted on his education and his mental wellbeing. We have found the Council was at fault. It failed to ensure that Y was receiving the provision outlined in the plan. The Council has agreed to address the injustice caused to Ms X and Y.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the support set out in Section F of her son’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan has not been provided, resulting in him not achieving the GCSEs he was aiming for. She also says his mental wellbeing has deteriorated.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. Before proceeding to investigate a matter, we must be satisfied that the matter has been brought, by or on behalf of the person affected, to the notice of the authority to which it relates and that that authority has been afforded a reasonable opportunity to investigate the matter and to respond. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5)(a))
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. 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)
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. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

What I have and have not investigated

7. I have investigated Ms X’s complaint about her son’s lack of education from May 2024, as this is when my investigation shows the Council became aware of the issue. I have not investigated earlier events from 2023 as they are late, and I have decided there are no good reasons why Ms X could not have complained to us sooner.
8. Ms X raised several complaints about what was not being delivered in Y’s EHC plan (see paragraph 16). One of these complaints was that the school should have prepared some individual short-term targets for Y within two months of the EHC plan being issued. I have not investigated this issue because the plan was issued in October 2023, and any complaint about a failure to meet this requirement is now too late to investigate.
9. As Y’s EHC plan was amended in March 2025, his provision changed, and so I have ended my investigation at that point.

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How I considered this complaint

10. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
11. 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

Law, guidance and policy

12. A child with special educational needs may have an education, health and care (EHC) plan. This document describes the arrangements which should be made to meet the child’s needs.
13. Councils have a duty to make sure children receive the provision set out in section F of their EHC plans. (Children and Families Act 2014, Section 42).
14. The Courts have said this duty to arrange provision is owed personally to the child and is non-delegable. This means if a council asks another organisation to make the provision and that organisation fails to do so, the Council remains responsible. (R v London Borough of Harrow ex parte M [1997] ELR 62), R v North Tyneside Borough Council [2010] EWCA Civ 135)

What happened

15. In October 2023 Y’s EHC plan was finalised.
16. Y was not attending school regularly and in May 2024, Ms X made a complaint to Council, saying the following support was not being provided in Y’s EHC plan:
• Home-based 1:1 tuition from a qualified tutor who had additional skills and expertise in working with students with complex mental health needs.
• A multi-agency approach, involving joined up and collaborative working between professionals and organisations, especially within education and mental health. This was to include regular, person-centred, multi-agency meetings to review progress and agree next steps of support.
• A reduced number of GCSE programmes of study (e.g. five or six subjects),
• A comprehensive assessment of Y’s literacy skills, to ascertain specific areas of difficulty and suitable interventions and support.
• Therapeutic support, using an evidence-based model to guide the process, such as 'Compassion Focused Therapy' to be provided by a suitably qualified and experienced psychologist or therapist.
• At least two allocated staff members to work with Y to build a positive, warm and trusting relationship.
17. In May 2024 the Council replied to the complaint. It said Y’s annual review was the right time to talk about the EHC plan not being delivered, so the Council and the school could work together to make sure Section F was put in place.
18. The Council also said it would ask the school what support it could offer from its own resources so the Council could consider getting extra support from outside providers. It also said it would try to improve communication between the school and the Council to avoid delays.
19. In June 2024, an urgent annual review took place where Y's provision was discussed. Art therapy also began that month.
20. In September 2024, Ms X wrote to the Council saying that Y’s support was still not being delivered and that this was causing stress for her and Y. In the same month, 1:1 tutoring began and continued until around December 2024.
21. In October 2024, a senior manager from the SEND service responded, saying they would contact the Integrated Care Board (ICB) about health support and would arrange a meeting with the school.
22. Later that month, a meeting was held with Y, Ms X and professionals to discuss Y’s barriers to learning. It was noted that he was unable to leave the house due to severe anxiety, which meant he could not access some support at the youth centre, and that he did not want to take part in online learning. Case notes from October 2024 show that art therapy had ended. Y was unable to engage with his tutor, and this, alongside his anxiety, contributed to his non-attendance.
23. In December 2024 a further annual review took place. The Council’s tuition also ended.
24. In May 2025, Y’s EHCP was updated.
25. That same month, Ms X contacted the Council to give feedback on her and Y’s experience. She said she had been paying for a private tutor to help Y with his exams and paying extra costs for his GCSEs. The Council replied by offering a meeting with Ms X and Y.
26. A meeting was scheduled for June 2025 but was cancelled by Ms X due to personal circumstances. The Council asked Ms X to contact them when she was ready to meet in the hope that any outstanding issues could be resolved.

My findings

27. We accept it is not practical for councils to keep a ‘watching brief’ on whether schools are providing all the right special educational needs support for every pupil with an EHC plan.
    
     
28. We do, however, consider that councils should be able to demonstrate appropriate oversight in gathering information to fulfil their legal duty. At a minimum we expect them to have systems in place to:
• Check the right provision is in place when a new or amended EHC plan is issued or there is a change in educational placement.
• Check the provision at least annually during the EHC plan review process.
• Quickly investigate and act on complaints or concerns raised that the provision is not in place at any time.
29. Ms X complained that the support in Y’s plan was not being provided. The Council took steps to try to resolve this, including holding regular annual reviews and an emergency annual review.
30. From Ms X’s perspective, the issue was not resolved. However, I find that there was no fault in the systems the Council had in place to provide oversight.
31. I asked the Council to provide evidence that Y’s provision was being delivered, and the evidence shows:
• 1:1 tuition for core subjects was provided at the local youth centre from September - December 2024, rather than at home, which Ms X agreed to. However, Y was only able to access approximately 50% of the sessions due to significant mental health difficulties, which affected his ability to access provision outside the home.
• Weekly mentoring with dedicated members of staff was in place for Y at the youth centre from September 2024 – February 2025. This included emotional support, GCSE support and transition planning.
• Y’s school applied for other bespoke provision with funding from the Council. However, Y changed his mind about the provision and tutors, and these ended after only a few sessions.
• Y was following a reduced programme of study towards GCSEs in line with his needs.
• Art therapy was provided but ended in October 2024 as Y did not wish it to continue.
• The Council provided evidence of English & literacy work with Y but no evidence of a comprehensive literacy assessment.
32. We would not hold a council responsible when it has made special educational needs provision available for a child, but they have chosen not to access it. As I have set out above, this was the case for some of Y’s provision.
33. However, as also set out above, there were periods of time during which certain provision was not available to Y. This includes tuition prior to September and after December 2024, and the literacy assessment.
34. The Council was at fault for failing to arrange some of Y’s provision at certain points between May 2024 and March 2025. We cannot say what impact this had on Y’s GCSE results. However, it likely caused him some injustice, which the Council should now take action to remedy.
35. The Council has already agreed that it will provide a reimbursement towards what Ms X spent on tutoring.

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Action

36. Within four weeks the Council has agreed to:
• Write to Ms X, apologising for not providing all of Section F of Y’s EHC plan. We publish guidance which sets out what we expect an effective apology to look like. The Council will consider this guidance when writing to Ms X.
• Make a symbolic payment of £500 to Ms X, on Y’s behalf, to recognise that that there were times that some of the provision in her EHC plan, including 1:1 tuition, was not delivered between May and September 2024. This meant they missed some support and education during that period.
• Write to Ms X and invite her to provide receipts, or other satisfactory evidence, for what she spent on tuition for Y after the Council’s own tuition ended in December 2025.
37. Within six weeks of the date of my final decision, the Council will reimburse Ms X for what she spent on tuition.
38. The Council will provide us with evidence it has done these things.

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Decision

39. The Council was at fault. This caused injustice to Ms X and Y, which the Council will now take action to address.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman