Summary: Mrs F complained the Council failed to find her son a school place, secure the provision in his education, health and care plan, or provide alternative provision when they moved into the Council’s area. We found fault which caused distress and for Mrs F’s son to miss out on education for a term and a half at a key phase of his education. The Council has agreed to apologise and make symbolic payments to remedy that injustice.

The complaint

1. Mrs F complained the Council failed to find her son a school place, secure the provision in his education, health and care plan, or provide alternative provision when they moved into the Council’s area in August 2024. Mrs F also complained the Council did not respond to her and delayed replying to her complaints.
2. Mrs F says as a result, her son spent seven months at home without education. His behaviour deteriorated and the situation caused significant distress for the whole family.

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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. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), 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).

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How I considered this complaint

7. I spoke to Mrs F about her complaint and considered the Council’s response to my enquiries and:
• The Education Act 1996
• The Children and Families Act 2014.
• The SEND Regulations 2014 (“the Regulations”)
• The SEND Code of Practice (“the Code”)
8. Mrs F and the Council 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

Relevant law and guidance

Special educational needs

9. A child with special educational needs (SEND) may have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. The EHC plan sets out the child's educational needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The Council is responsible for making sure that arrangements specified in the EHC plan are put in place and reviewed each year.

Transfers of EHC plans between local authorities

10. Where a child or young person moves to another council area, the ‘old’ council must transfer the EHC Plan to the ‘new’ council on the day of the move, or within 15 working days of the day it became aware of the move.
11. Upon the transfer of the EHC plan, the new authority becomes responsible for maintaining the plan and for securing the special educational provision specified in it. The legislation does not provide for any pause of these duties while a council waits to receive documents from another authority. (Regulation 15, Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014)
12. Where the educational setting named in Section I of the EHC plan is no longer practicable because of the move, the Code expects the council to arrange suitable alternative education on an interim basis, such as placing the child temporarily at an appropriate educational institution until the EHC plan is formally amended. (SEND Code of Practice paragraph 9.159)
13. This is because councils have a duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements for the provision of suitable education at school or otherwise than at school, for those children of compulsory school age who, by reason of illness, exclusion from school, or otherwise, may not for any period receive suitable education unless such arrangements are made for them. This applies to all children of compulsory school age living in the local council area, whether or not they are on the roll of a school, and whatever type of school they attend.
14. The new authority may, on the transfer of the EHC plan, review the plan or conduct a new EHC needs assessment. It must tell the child’s parent its plans within six weeks of the date of transfer. (SEND Code of Practice paragraph 9.160)

What happened

15. I have summarised the key events.
16. Mrs F’s son, J, has special educational needs and had been attending a special school. He was due to start secondary education in September 2024.
17. The family moved to the Council’s area in August 2024 from Council X’s area. Mrs F emailed the Council on 29 August advising them of that. The Council contacted Council X on 30 August, asking for J’s EHC plan.
18. Mrs F complained to the Council on 16 October. She said she had heard nothing since August, despite chasing, and J was out of education. His behaviour was deteriorating causing significant distress to the family.
19. The Council replied to the complaint on 22 October. It said it had not yet received J’s EHC plan from Council X and it could not consult schools without this. The Council contacted Council X, which sent the EHC plan on 24 October. Mrs F asked for her complaint to be escalated.
20. The Council started consulting special schools on 6 November but none were able to take J. On 27 November, the Council referred J to a home tuition service but the referral was not accepted. The Council continued to consult schools. There was no review of J’s EHC plan or decision whether to re-assess his EHC needs.
21. The Council says it found a tuition service to start in February 2025. On 4 February, Mrs F told the Council they were moving back to Council’s X’s area. J had not received any education since July 2024.
22. The Council issued its final complaint response in June 2025. It apologised for the delay. The Council accepted it had missed opportunities to act when Mrs F moved into its area and should have made better efforts to support the family, although finding a special school place at short notice would have been difficult. It upheld Mrs F’s complaint and apologised for the stress caused.

My findings

23. Council X had a duty to transfer J’s EHC plan to the Council within 15 working days of becoming aware that he had moved. My view is that Council X became aware on 30 August 2024, when the Council contacted it. Council X did not send the EHC plan until 24 October but my view is the transfer date was 20 September, 15 working days after Council X became aware. I therefore consider that the Council had a duty to secure the EHC plan provision from 20 September 2024.
24. The Council says it could not consult schools until received the EHC plan. It failed to chase or escalate when the plan was not provided, which is fault, but I consider that the delay by Council X did not remove the Council’s responsibility to act. My view is the law does not allow a council to delay action because it does not have the EHC plan paperwork.
25. Once the Council became aware that a child with SEN and an EHC plan was in its area, it became responsible for J under section 24 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Although Council X remained responsible for maintaining the EHC plan until transfer under Regulation 15 (on 20 September), the Council had a duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to secure suitable education from the date it became aware J was living in its area. This is because section 19 applies to all children of compulsory school age living in the council’s area. In addition, the Code says the new authority should arrange appropriate interim education even where it has not yet received the EHC plan.
26. We expect councils to recognise that responsibility has transferred and take steps to secure suitable education, arrange interim provision where the named school was no longer practicable, and to ensure the child was not left without education. The Council did not take these steps until November 2024. This was fault.
27. There is evidence the Council then consulted 19 schools and made a referral to a home tuition service which was rejected. But the failure to secure education for J was service failure.
28. This meant J missed out on education and SEN provision from September 2024 to the end of January 2025 (one and a half terms). Mrs F was also caused uncertainty and distress by J not being in education.
29. When we have evidence of fault causing injustice, we will seek a remedy for that injustice which aims to put the complainant back in the position they would have been in if nothing had gone wrong. When this is not possible, we will normally consider asking for a symbolic payment to acknowledge the avoidable distress caused. But our remedies are not intended to be punitive and we do not award compensation in the way that a court might. Nor do we calculate a financial remedy based on what the cost of the service would have been to the provider. This is because it is not possible to now provide the services missed out on.
30. Our guidance on remedies says that if a child has missed out on education due to fault, a payment of up to £2,400 per term may be appropriate. I consider the maximum amount is suitable in J’s case. In reaching that view I have taken into account that he was at a key stage in his education, had significant SEN and that additional provision now could remedy some or all of the loss.
31. I have seen that Mrs F contacted the Council on many occasions trying to ensure education was in place for J, but she received no response until late October. This is fault causing her time and trouble.
32. The Council’s final complaint response was delayed by six months, which is fault causing distress.

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Action

33. Within a month of my final decision the Council has agreed to apologise and pay Mrs F:
• £3,600 to remedy a loss of education and SEN provision for one and a half terms.
• £200 to remedy the distress and time and trouble she was caused by poor communication and delay in complaint handling.
34. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

35. There was fault by the Council. The actions the Council has agreed to take remedy the injustice caused. I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman