Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to ensure Y received all the provision set out in his Education, Health and Care Plan and failed to effectively deal with her complaint. We find the Council at fault causing uncertainty around whether Y received the provision he was entitled to and meaning Miss X had to spend additional time in the complaint process. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to recognise the injustice and act to prevent recurrence.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to ensure her son Y received all the provision set out in his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan despite her raising this issue with it. Miss X also complains the Council failed to effectively deal with her complaints.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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)
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 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 Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. We cannot usually investigate events that took place more than a year before the complaint was brought to the Ombudsman. We can only exercise discretion to look back further if there are good reasons to do so.
8. Miss X first contacted the Ombudsman in June 2025, meaning anything that took place before June 2024 has been raised late. I have decided to exercise discretion to look back to December 2023 as this appears to be the first time Miss X raised her concerns with the Council and I find the delay in coming to us was due to how the Council responded to these.

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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 policy

11. A child or young person with special educational needs (SEN) may have an 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. 
12. 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). The Courts have said the duty to arrange this provision is owed personally to the child and is non-delegable. This means if the council asks another organisation to make the provision and that organisation fails to do so, the council remains liable (R v London Borough of Harrow ex parte M [1997] ELR 62), (R v North Tyneside Borough Council [2010] EWCA Civ 135)  
13. We accept it is not practical for councils to keep a ‘watching brief’ on whether schools and others are providing all the special educational provision in section F for every pupil with an EHC Plan. We consider 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 special educational 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 review process; and 
• quickly investigate and act on complaints or concerns raised that the provision is not in place at any time. 

What happened

14. I have summarised below some key events leading to Miss X’s complaint. While I have considered everything submitted, this is not intended to be a detailed account of what took place.
15. Y has SEN and his education is supported by an EHC Plan. Y attended School A.
16. Y’s EHC Plan was reviewed in December 2023. At that point, Miss X informed the Council she had concerns around Y’s lack of independence, the level of support he needed with personal care, and about his future. School A said it was working towards the outcomes in Y’s EHC Plan that addressed this need. No further action was taken at this time.
17. Y’s EHC Plan was reviewed again in December 2024. Miss X highlighted that one of the outcomes in Y’s EHC Plan was to learn to go out independently to a shop, but he could not do this and asked if it was going to be addressed. School A explained it was in discussions to arrange for students to get public transport to attend a shop within a small, supervised group. The Council believed this was suitable and took no further action.
18. In March 2025 Miss X complained to the Council explaining Y had not received all the provision set out in his EHC Plan. At this point the Council told Mrs X she should instead complain to School A as the body responsible for delivering provision.
19. In April 2025, Miss X complained to the Council again. Miss X explained School A had not delivered all the provision set out in Y’s EHC Plan. Miss X explained specifically:
• Two of Y’s lessons were accessed through a video call but there was no teacher in the room to support his learning and sometimes the call did not work at all;
• Y required regular physical activity and a programme of hand and shoulder strengthening exercises, as agreed with an Occupational Therapist (OT), but this had not been delivered;
• No work was done on helping Y to reliably cross a road, showing appropriate levels of caution; and
• Y did not receive fortnightly one hour 1:1 therapy sessions.
20. When the Council responded to Miss X’s complaint, it said any concerns about EHC Plan provision not being delivered was an issue to raise with School A rather than the Council. However, it said it had it would arrange a meeting with Miss X and School A to resolve the issues.
21. In May 2025 Miss X asked the Council to reconsider her complaint. She reiterated that Y was not receiving all the provision in his EHC Plan.
22. The Council responded to Miss X in June 2025. The Council said Miss X was correct in saying it was the Council’s responsibility to ensure the provision from Y’s EHC Plan was met. The Council explained it had contacted School A to arrange a meeting to look into Miss X’s concerns.
23. The meeting with the Council, School A and Miss X took place later in June 2025. As it was approaching the end of the school year and Y was due to transition to post-16 education, the Council decided to focus on finding an appropriate setting for then.
24. From September 2025, Y began attending School B. The Council has said he is now receiving all the provision set out in his EHC Plan and Miss X agrees this is the case.

Analysis

25. Councils are under a duty to ensure a child or young person with an EHC Plan receives the provision set out within that plan. The duty is non-delegable and is owed by the Council even where it has asked another organisation to make that provision. While we understand it is not practical for a Council to keep a watching brief on schools delivering provision, we expect it to maintain oversight and quickly investigate any concerns raised that the provision is not in place.
26. During Y’s EHC Plan annual review meetings in December 2023 and December 2024, Miss X raised concerns about the delivery of provision, Miss X explained Y did not usually tell her anything or answer questions about school but she had concerns with the progress he was making. Records from the meetings show School A said it was working towards the outcomes Miss X had raised concerns about and the Council was satisfied with this as a resolution. However, I have seen no evidence the Council ever took any action to investigate Miss X’s concerns or get evidence School A was actually delivering Y’s EHC Plan provision. This amounts to fault and has created uncertainty around whether Y was receiving the EHC Plan provision he was entitled to, which is injustice.
27. When Miss X complained to the Council in March 2025, the Council told her she should direct her complaint to School A. This is incorrect information as it is the Council’s duty to ensure provision was delivered so it is the Council who is responsible for dealing with complaints about this. The Council repeated this incorrect information to Miss X in April 2025 after she explained what EHC Plan provision she felt had not been delivered. This amounts to fault. This created uncertainty for Miss X and meant she was put to more time and trouble pursuing her complaint which is injustice.
28. The Council arranged a meeting with Miss X and School A in June 2025 to discuss the provision Miss X had said was missed. During this meeting the Council agreed to look for a new educational setting for Y from September 2025. While I appreciate this appears to have ensured Y received all the provision he was entitled to from September 2025 onwards, it did not address the injustice caused by the provision Miss X said Y had already missed. Failure to investigate exactly what provision Y had received and what he had missed in order to remedy any injustice caused amounts to fault. This creates further uncertainty around whether Y actually received the provision he was entitled to from when Miss X first raised her concerns in December 2023, up until the end of the academic 2024/25 year.

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Action

29. To remedy the injustice caused by the fault identified above, the Council should complete the following actions:
30. Within one month of the date of this decision:
• Write to Miss X to apologise for not fully investigating her concerns around whether Y was receiving all the EHC Plan provision he was entitled to. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Miss X £500 to recognise the uncertainty caused by the failure to investigate her concerns and the additional time and trouble she was put to in pursuing her complaint.
• Issue guidance to relevant staff to ensure they understand the Council’s duty to ensure the provision set out in an EHC Plan is non-delegable and the Council is expected to quickly investigate and act on complaints or concerns that provision is not in place itself.
31. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

32. 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