Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to reimburse the cost of school fees for the independent school named in her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council refused to reimburse the cost of school fees for the independent school placement named in her child, Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) in October 2024. She complains, instead, the Council issued an amended Plan in February 2025, which said Y’s parents were responsible for any school fees and connected costs. Mrs X says she has had to pay the school fees.

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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 provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the SEND Tribunal in this decision statement.
6. 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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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. In October 2024, the Council sent Mrs X a copy of Z’s final EHC Plan. It named an independent school in Section I.
10. In February 2025, the Council issued an amended Plan. This named two schools in Section I: a maintained school and the same independent school. The Council named the independent school on the condition that Mrs X was responsible for all school fees, school transport and other associated costs.
11. If we investigated this complaint it is likely we would find fault causing Mrs X injustice because, in October 2024, the Council only named an independent school, as well as the linked setting type (“mainstream school: independent school”) in Section I of the Plan. The Council did not name a maintained school that it considered to be the nearest suitable school. In these circumstances, we would expect the Council to meet the costs of the fees because the school was named without any conditions or reference to Mrs X paying for fees. It is likely that an investigation would find the Council incorrectly decided the amended wording in the February 2025 Plan could be relied on and applied retroactively to the October 2024 Plan. This likely fault by the Council meant Mrs X incurred fees between 17 October 2024 and 5 February 2025 when we would have expected the Council to pay these.
12. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by its actions by carrying out the following actions:

• apologise in writing to Mrs X; and,
• request copies of any invoices or receipts from Mrs X for any fees paid between 17 October 2024 and 5 February 2025 and reimburse Mrs X for the fees incurred.

13. To its credit the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will carry out the above actions by 21 November 2025 to put things right.
14. We will not investigate matters from February 2025 onwards because an amended final Plan was issued. This gave rise to fresh SEND Tribunal appeal rights and it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to have used these. The SEND Tribunal has the power to resolve any dispute over the suitability of the placements named in Z’s amended Plan.

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Final decision

15. Mrs X complains the Council failed to reimburse the cost of school fees for the independent school named in her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman