Summary: We found fault with the Council delaying for eight months outside the statutory timescales producing Mr X’s child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This caused Mr X avoidable distress and frustrated his appeal rights. We also found fault with the Council failing to ensure Mr X’s child had access to suitable education from January 2025 to December 2025. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him a symbolic financial remedy for the distress, frustrated appeal rights and for his child’s missed education.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council delayed completion of an assessment of an Education, Health and Care Plan for his child. Mr X says because of the Council’s delay, his child became unable to attend school.
2. Mr X also complained about the content of the resultant Education, Health and Care Plan. Mr X says the Council failed to make changes in response to the draft and the final plan was inadequate for their child’s needs.

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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. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), 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 when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
7. 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)
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. I have investigated Mr X’s concerns about his child’s access to education from September 2024 up to February 2026. This includes investigation into the Education, Health and Care Plan assessment and education on offer.
10. I have not investigated matters before September 2024 because Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman in July 2025. The Ombudsman cannot investigate matters more than 12 months before a complaint was brought to us. Given Mr X’s child’s school year ended in July 2024, their access to education was not impacted from July 2024 until the start of September 2024. The Education, Health and Care Plan assessment application was also made after this date. I have referenced events before September 2024 for context but have made no findings on these events.
11. The Ombudsman does not keep complaints open-ended. As such, I have ended my investigation from February 2026 because this is when I made my enquires of the Council. Anything which happened after this date would be the subject of a new complaint to the Council.
12. I have also not investigated the contents of the Final Education, Health and Care Plan the Council produced for Mr X’s child. This is because the content of a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan is appealable to the tribunal as the appropriate body to consider such matters.

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How I considered this complaint

13. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
14. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision before I made a final decision.

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What I found

Rules and regulations

EHC Plan 

15. A child or young person with special educational needs may have an Education, Health and Care (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. 
16. Statutory guidance ‘Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years’ (‘the Code’) sets out the process for carrying out EHC assessments and producing EHC Plans. The guidance is based on the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEN Regulations 2014. It says the following: 

• Where the council receives a request for an EHC needs assessment it must decide whether to agree to the assessment and send its decision to the parent of the child or the young person within six weeks. 
• If the council decides not to conduct an EHC needs assessment it must give the child’s parent or young person information about their right to appeal to the Tribunal.
• The process of assessing needs and developing EHC Plans “must be carried out in a timely manner”. Steps must be completed as soon as practicable. 
• If the council goes on to carry out an assessment, it must decide whether to issue an EHC Plan or refuse to issue a Plan within 16 weeks.
• If the council goes on to issue an EHC Plan, the whole process from the point when an assessment is requested until the final EHC Plan is issued must take no more than 20 weeks (unless certain specific circumstances apply).

Section 19 duty

17. Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 says that councils must arrange suitable alternative educational provision when it finds that a child is unable to attend school because of a permanent exclusion, an illness, or for any other reason which make the school inaccessible to the child. The alternative educational provision must be suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude, and any special educational needs they have.

Establishing a section 19 duty

18. If a council discovers a child is absent from school for an extended period, it should consider the reasons for this, and take account of evidence from relevant parties (such as the child’s school, parents, and medical professionals). It must then decide whether it has a duty to make alternative educational provision.
19. If a council wants to see medical or other evidence, it should ask for it at the earliest opportunity. The council should account for any challenges a parent might have in obtaining evidence, and review its position based on any new evidence it receives.
20. Councils should consider any attempts the school is making to support the child. This might involve sending work home for the child to complete, arranging disability related support, placing the child on a reduced timetable, or providing online education as a short-term measure. If there is a clear, effective, and time-bound plan for reintegration then there may be no immediate role for the council in providing alternative education.

Good practice guidance

21. We publish good practice guidance on how we expect councils to fulfil their responsibilities to identify and arrange alternative educational provision: Supporting children out of school (October 2025)
22. Our guidance says that councils should:

• consider all the reasons for a child’s absence from school, and make a written evidence-based decision about whether it will arrange alternative education provision;
• communicate this decision as a matter of good practice to parents and where it decides not to arrange alternative education tell parents the expectations about school attendance, and the potential consequences for continued absences;
• ensure the provision meets the individual needs of the child where it decides to arrange alternative education and explain its reasons for providing a part-time education if it decides the child cannot cope with full time provision;
• keep all cases of part-time education under review with a view to increasing when the child is able;
• work with parents and schools to draw up plans to reintegrate children to their normal educational setting as soon as possible, reviewing and amending plans as necessary; and
• ensure effective channels of communication between parents, internal teams, and external bodies (such as schools, and the NHS) so that issues are dealt with promptly by the right people, and that any complaints are identified and responded to under the relevant policy.

23. Where councils arrange for schools or other bodies to carry out their functions on their behalf, the council remains responsible. Therefore councils should retain oversight and control to ensure their duties are properly fulfilled.

What happened

24. At the end of the 2023/2024 academic year Mr X’s child, Y, was attending a previous school. This school was in communication with the Council about Y’s access to education and the idea of putting in place a part-time timetable.
25. In September 2024, Y started to attend a new school full-time.
26. By mid-September 2024, Y started to struggle with attendance at school. Y’s school suggested a part-time timetable for Y with 1:1 provision for 17.5 hours each week. The Council approved the part-time timetable with the plan for this to run until mid-October 2024.
27. In October 2024, the Council met with Y’s school and Mr X to review the part-time timetable. Mr X expressed concerns about the suitability of mainstream school for Y and wanted full-time education. The Council and school agreed a plan for full-time education after the half-term and for the school to put in an EHC Plan assessment application. The school submitted an EHC Plan assessment application following the meeting.
28. At the start of November 2024, the Council met with Y’s school to review Y’s access to education. Y’s school confirmed Y was struggling to engage with the part-time timetable but agreed to extend this until the end of the term in December 2024.
29. In November 2024, the Council agreed to assess Y for an EHC Plan.
30. Mr X made a complaint to the Council in May 2025. Mr X said:
• Y was having difficulties attending school since September 2024.
• Y’s school has only been able to offer a part-time timetable but the school environment is not suitable for Y.
• Y’s school made an EHC Plan needs assessment application in October 2024 but the Council had not produced a Final EHC Plan yet.
31. The Council provided a complaint response in July 2025. The Council said:
• It apologised for the delay in Y’s EHC Plan assessment and this was caused by a national shortage of Educational Psychologists.
• It is currently consulting with schools for Y as part of the EHC Plan assessment process and will let Mr X know which school it intends to name in the plan.
32. In October 2025, the Council issued a Final EHC Plan for Y. The Council named Y’s current school in Section I of the EHC Plan.
33. At the start of December 2025, the Council took over oversight of Y’s re-engagement into education at Y’s school. The Council noted that Y was accessing three hours of education each week through an Alternative Provision of education provider arranged by the school. From December 2025 to the end of February 2026, the Council increased Y’s access to education to 15 hours with an Alternative Provision of education provider and two hours of 1:1 tuition each week.

Analysis

Education, Health and Care Plan assessment

34. The Council had six weeks from the date of the application for an EHC Plan needs assessment to decide whether it would complete an assessment. The Council met this timescale when it decided to assess Y for an EHC Plan; I do not find fault.
35. The Council had a further fourteen weeks to issue a Final EHC Plan, given its decision to issue a plan, this meant the Council had until the start of March 2025. The Council failed to issue a Final EHC Plan for Y until the end of October 2025. This meant the Council failed to meet the statutory timescales by just short of eight months.
36. The Council has explained the reason it failed to meet the statutory timescales was because of a lack of Educational Psychologists. While the lack of Educational Psychologists is a national issue, the Council was still at fault for failing to meet the statutory timescales. The Ombudsman considers a council should provide a payment of £100 per month delay outside the statutory timescales for production of an EHC Plan as a symbolic payment to address the avoidable distress and frustrated appeal rights caused by the lack of Educational Psychologist resources.

Access to suitable education

37. Y’s school first contacted the Council to advise of Y’s difficulty with attendance in September 2024. Y’s school proposed a part-time timetable for Y which the Council reviewed and agreed to. The Council kept Y’s access to education under review through meetings in October 2024 and November 2024 and decided to keep the part-time timetable in place until the end of December 2024.
38. The Council assessed Y’s access to education, agreed with the school a part-time timetable was suitable for Y, recommended application for an EHC Plan needs assessment to help support Y in school and kept Y’s part-timetable under review. The Council has taken suitable steps to consider Y’s access to education from September 2024 to the end of December 2024 and decided Y’s school was suitable and accessible education through a part-time timetable. I do not find fault with the Council’s actions or decision making.
39. The Council agreed for the part-time timetable to remain in place until the end of December 2024. This means the Council should have reviewed Y’s access to education again in preparation for January 2025. The Council has not reviewed the suitability of Y’s access to education from January 2025 until it took control of Y’s re-engagement plan at the start of December 2025. This meant the Council failed to consider Y’s access to education for eleven months and failed to suitably consider its Section 19 duty to provide education.
40. During this eleven-month period, Y remained on a part-time timetable with the school until the Easter break but then stopped attending. When the Council took oversight of Y’s re-engagement plan in December 2025, it decided Y needed access to Alternative Provision of education. On the balance of probabilities, had the Council take ownership of the situation sooner, it would have made the same decision that Y needed suitable Alternative Provision of education. The Council’s failure to take ownership and oversight of Y’s access to education from January 2025 to December 2025 has directly caused missed education for Y.
41. Our guidance on remedies for a loss of educational provision recommends a payment of between £900 and £2,400 per term to acknowledge the impact of that loss. The exact figure should be based on the impact on the child. This should take into account factors such as the amount of provision put in place, a child’s individual needs and whether they are in a key academic year.
42. The Council failed to take suitable steps to make appropriate educational provision available to Y from January 2025 until December 2025. This amounts to two terms and twelve weeks.
43. I have considered Y’s individual circumstances. This includes Y having access to a part-time timetable for one term and then access to three hours each week alternative provision of education arranged by the school. However, this education fell short of the provision the Council considered suitable when it took over management of Y’s access to education in December 2025. This shows Y did not have access to suitable and accessible education during this time. It is of note that since Y did not have a Final EHC Plan until October 2025, Y was not entitled to the EHC Plan provision until its production. This meant for most of January 2025 to December 2025, Y did not miss the EHC Plan provision. I have addressed delays in production of the EHC Plan separately.
44. From December 2025, the Council took over management of Y’s re-engagement in education. The Council’s active involvement in Y’s access to education resulted in increasing Alternative Provision of education and introducing 1:1 tutoring for Y. The Council’s involvement has shown a managed and proportionate response to enabling Y to reintegrate with education and I do not find fault with its actions from December 2025.

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Action

45. Within one month of the Ombudsman’s final decision the Council should:
• Provide an apology to Mr X for the injustice caused to Mr X and Y through the eight-month delay outside the statutory timescales in producing his child’s Education, Health and Care Plan and failure to ensure Mr X’s child had access to suitable and accessible education from January 2025 to December 2025. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Provide Mr X with a payment of £800 for the avoidable distress and frustrated appeal rights caused by the Council’s eight-month delay outside the statutory timescales in producing his child’s Education, Health and Care Plan.
• Provide a payment of £2,750 as a symbolic gesture for Mr X’s child’s missed education from January 2025 to December 2025.
46. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

47. There was fault leading to injustice. As the Council has agreed to my recommendations, I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman