Summary: The Council failed to ensure Ms X’s son received full-time education between September 2024 and March 2025 and delayed responding to her complaint. That meant Ms X’s son missed out on education and Ms X experienced distress. An apology, payment to Ms X and guidance for officers is satisfactory remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complained the Council:
• delayed identifying a new school place for her son when his existing placement closed;
• failed to put in place full-time education for her son between September 2024 and March 2025;
• arranged tutoring in the home when she made clear that was not suitable, which restricted the hours her son could access;
• unreasonably failed to put in place alternative provision to allow a transition before her son started at his new school;
• failed to arrange a meeting with the new school; and
• delayed responding to her complaint.
2. Ms X says the Council’s actions meant her son missed out on education and it affected her ability to work.

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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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), 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(i), 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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How I considered this complaint

6. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and Ms X's comments;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided.
7. Ms X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Education

8. The Education Act 1996 (Section 19) says education authorities must make suitable educational provision for children of compulsory school age who are absent from school because of illness, exclusion or otherwise. The provision can be at a school or otherwise, but must be suitable for the child's age, ability and aptitude, including any special needs.

Special educational needs

9. A child or young person with special educational needs may have an education, health and care plan (EHC Plan). This sets out the child's needs and arrangements for meeting them.
10. Local authorities (councils) have a duty to arrange the special educational provision set out in an EHC Plan. (Children and Families Act 2014 section 42)

What happened

11. Ms X’s son has special educational needs and an EHC Plan. Ms X’s son was attending a school which closed in July 2024. The Council had identified an alternative school for Ms X’s son to start in September 2024. However, Ms X did not consider the school suitable. The Council therefore consulted other schools in August 2024.
12. Ms X’s son had been receiving some additional support from an alternative provider (provider A). Provider A contacted the Council in August, September and October to find out whether it had agreed funding for that provision to continue.
13. An annual review for the EHC Plan took place in November. Ms X asked the Council for a personal budget.
14. Ms X’s son began receiving alternative provision at three hours per week in November 2024.
15. The Council issued a draft EHC Plan in January 2025 and began consulting schools. School B told the Council it was a suitable placement but raised concerns about whether it could meet the provision in Ms X’s son’s EHC Plan.
16. The Council initially told Ms X it would fund an additional alternative provider and Ms X’s son visited that provider in February 2025. The Council then told Ms X it had decided to name school B in the EHC Plan and would continue to fund the additional provision from provider A until July 2025, to support the transition. The Council later extended that support.
17. After receiving the final EHC Plan naming school B Ms X put in a complaint.
18. In March 2025 Ms X asked the Council to arrange a meeting with school B to support with his transition. Ms X later told the Council she had arranged to meet with school B and the Council agreed to arrange a separate meeting after that.
19. On 25 March Ms X told the Council she had met with school B and was happy with its plan for her son. Ms X said she wanted to meet with the Council and school B in May to discuss the transition and support for September.
20. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint in July 2025.

Analysis

21. Ms X says the Council delayed identifying a new school place for her son when his previous school closed. Ms X says because of that her son missed out on education between September 2024 and November 2024 and then received only part-time education until he began at his new school in March 2025.
22. The evidence I have seen satisfies me the Council had identified a new school placement for Ms X son to begin in September 2024. However, the evidence also shows that school placement was not identified until July 2024 and Ms X did not consider the placement suitable. I am satisfied the Council began consulting alternative schools promptly after that, although I understand Ms X’s frustration that this meant her son could not start at a new school in September 2024. Nevertheless, as I have evidence the Council was looking for an alternative school placement and had identified one before the start of the new school year I have no grounds to criticise it.
23. I am concerned though that it took the Council until November 2024 to put in place alternative provision. That is despite the fact Ms X’s son had previously received some alternative provision alongside his school placement and that alternative provider had contacted the Council in September 2024 to see if the provision needed to continue. Delay putting in place alternative provision until November 2024 is fault. That meant Ms X’s son missed out on education for around two thirds of a term. Ms X’s son also missed out on provision in his EHC Plan during that period.
24. Ms X says her son could only access three hours of the 15 hours provision the Council agreed to fund between November 2024 and March 2025. Ms X says that was because the provision had to take place in the home and she could only arrange that when her youngest son was at nursery. Ms X also says the tutor providing education to her son was not available for 15 hours per week anyway.
25. I do not have any evidence about the reason why 15 hours provision was not in place between November 2024 and March 2025. Nevertheless, the Council has a section 19 duty to ensure a child receives full-time education. Failure to ensure Ms X’s son received full time education between November 2024 and March 2025 is fault. I also consider it likely that impacted on the special educational needs provision available during that period.
26. Ms X says the Council had agreed to put in place some additional alternative provision in January 2025 to support her son’s transition to a new school placement. Ms X says as the Council had agreed that her son visited the alternative provision but the Council then cancelled it and instead named school B in her son’s EHC Plan.
27. The documentary evidence I have seen suggests there was some miscommunication between the Council and Ms X about its intent in relation to the alternative provision proposed in January 2025. It is clear Ms X believed the Council would put that provision in place so her son could transition to a new school placement. However, it appears from the Council’s documentation it intended that alternative provision only until the Council could identify a new school placement. So, from the Council’s point of view, once it had identified a new school placement there was no longer any need for the alternative provision.
28. I have seen no evidence the Council made that point clear to Ms X. In those circumstances it is unsurprising Ms X was distressed when the alternative provision was cancelled. Failure to be clear with Ms X about the Council’s intention is fault. That raised Ms X’s expectations and led to her son wasting time visiting a provision.
29. Ms X says the Council failed to arrange a meeting with school B despite the fact she raised concerns about its suitability. The evidence I have seen satisfies me the Council agreed to arrange a meeting with the school B and Ms X in March 2025. However, the documentary evidence also shows Ms X met with school B separately and the Council told Ms X it would arrange a further meeting after that. There is no evidence the Council did that, although I note Ms X told the Council after her meeting with the school that she was happy with the transition plan proposed. Failure to arrange the meeting or explain why the Council did not consider a meeting necessary is fault.
30. Ms X says the Council delayed responding to her complaint. The evidence I have seen suggests Ms X put in her complaint in February 2025. I have seen no evidence the Council responded to that complaint until July 2025. That is a considerable delay. I understand the Council decided to put the complaint response on hold pending the outcome of a separate Ombudsman investigation. The Council also says it asked Ms X to make clear how the complaint differed from the one she had already raised and she did not clarify that until June 2025.
31. I do not have any evidence of the Council seeking to clarify how the complaint was different with Ms X. As Ms X’s complaint also included a period that was not part of the complaint the Ombudsman was already considering I would have expected the Council to know it did not need to wait for the outcome of that investigation before investigating the new aspects of the complaint. Delay doing so is therefore fault.
32. I consider because of the fault identified in this statement Ms X’s son missed out on full-time education between September 2024 and March 2025. Ms X also experienced distress and had raised expectations. The Ombudsman normally recommends an amount between £900 and £2,400 per term to reflect the missed education and the impact that had on the family. In this case as Ms X’s son did not receive any education for two thirds of a term between September and November 2024 I recommended the Council pay Ms X £1,200.I further recommended the Council pay Ms X an additional £1,600 to reflect the fact her son only received three hours education per week between the end of November 2024 and the end of March 2025. That makes a total financial remedy of £2,800. I also recommended the Council apologise to Ms X and her son.
33. I further recommended the Council provide guidance to officers dealing with children without a school place. That should make clear the Council’s responsibility to ensure alternative provision is in place until a school placement is identified. I also recommended the Council provide guidance to complaints officers to make clear they should not put complaint responses on hold pending the outcome of an Ombudsman investigation into a different time period or different matters. The Council has agreed to my recommendations.

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Action

34. Within one month of my decision the Council should:
• apologise to Ms X and her son for the distress they experienced due to the faults identified in this decision. The Council may want to refer to the Ombudsman’s updated guidance on remedies, which sets out the standards we expect apologies to meet;
• pay Ms X £2,800;
• provide guidance to officers dealing with children without a school place to make clear the Council’s responsibility to ensure alternative provision is in place until a school placement is identified;
• provide guidance to complaints officers to make clear that complaint responses should not be put on hold pending the outcome of an Ombudsman investigation into a different time period or different matters.
35. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

36. I find fault causing injustice. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman