Summary: The Council was at fault. It failed to provide Miss X’s child Y with a suitable alternative education or the provision in their Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan between September 2024 and December 2025 when Y did not have a named school to attend. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to Miss X to recognise the impact this had on Y’s education and development and the distress and uncertainty caused to Miss X.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to provide her child, Y with a suitable education or the specialist provision outlined in their Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan between September 2024 and December 2025.
2. Miss X said Y lost out on four terms of education which has impacted on their development causing distress and uncertainty.

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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. 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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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. 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 guidance

Education, Health and Care Plans

8. 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.
9. The EHC Plan is set out in sections which include: 

• Section B: Special educational needs.  
• Section F: The special educational provision needed by the child or the young person. 
• Section I: The name and/or type of educational placement.

10. 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).

What happened

11. Miss X has a child, Y. Y has special educational needs including a diagnosis of autism and pathological demand avoidance (PDA). Y was due to begin secondary education in year 7 in September 2024.
12. In July 2024 the Council issued Y with an EHC Plan. The EHC Plan set out the specialist provision Y was entitled to which included:
• Teaching provided in an environment to support Y’s sensory needs
• Differentiated curriculum to align with Y’s current attainment levels
• Access to a key trusted adult
• Teaching and support from adults trained in autism and Pathological Demand Avoidance
• Weekly social skills intervention sessions
• 3 x 45 min sessions per week individual or small group literacy intervention
• Staff meeting with Y in the morning and afternoon to brief and de-brief the day
13. Section I of Y’s EHC Plan named ‘a special school which can meet Y’s social, emotional and mental health needs’. A specific school was not named.
14. Y did not have a school placement in September 2024 and remained out of school for the remainder of 2024 and early 2025.
15. Miss X complained to the Council in April 2025. She complained Y had not received education or alternative provision since the Council issued the EHC Plan. She said despite trying to communicate with the Council it had failed to put anything in place or resolve the matter.
16. The Council responded at stage one of its complaints procedure at the end of April 2025. It said it had made referrals to schools and other educational providers but had not received any positive responses. It said it was currently looking at putting alternative provision in place. It apologised that Y had not received any education in year 7.
17. Y began receiving 15 hours of alternative provision with a tutor shortly after the Council’s complaint response. This consisted of mentoring, confidence building and trips into the community. Miss X said the provision did not include any subject based learning such as maths and English.
18. Miss X escalated her complaint in June reiterating that Y had now missed out on nearly a full year of education. She said the tutor in place was not teaching any subjects and asked again for suitable alternative provision.
19. The Council provide a stage two complaint response. It said:
• Searches for school places for Y took too long and were not as efficient as they should have been which resulted in Y receiving no education for an unacceptable period
• It accepted a delay in putting alternative provision in place for which it apologised
• It considered the 15 hours tuition in place during the summer term as appropriate but accepted it was not as effective as being in a school setting
• Communication with Miss X had been poor
20. The Council offered Miss X £100 in recognition of the frustration and uncertainty caused.
21. In August 2025 the Council wrote to Miss X with a final response setting out the actions it intended to take. It said officers would contact Miss X to discuss a permanent setting for Y and agree additional catch-up provision.
22. Miss X remained unhappy and complained to us.
23. Miss X said Y remained without a school placement until they began at a special school in January 2026. Miss X said it was her and not the Council that managed to secure Y’s place at the school. Miss X said the 15 hours tuition remained in place until December 2025 which she said really helped Y but reiterated that this did not include any subject based learning.
24. Miss X said the Council held and annual review in March 2026 and shortly after issued Y’s amended EHC Plan which named the special school in section I.

My findings

25. When the Council issued Y’s EHC Plan in July 2024 Miss X had a realistic expectation that it would find a specialist placement for Y as soon as possible. Y remained without a school placement and the specialist provision in their EHC Plan. There was no oversight and Y had no alternative provision in place between September 2024 and April 2025. That was fault.
26. Following Miss X’s complaint the Council put in place 15 hours a week with a tutor for Y which remained in place between April and December 2025. This tuition was mentoring and confidence building support which Miss X said helped Y significantly. However, the tuition did not include any subject based/curriculum work such as core subjects like maths, English or science. So, although the tuition went some way to meeting the social side of Y’s EHC Plan it still meant Y did not receive any curriculum based education during this period which was fault.
27. Ultimately Y remained without a school placement for four terms and missed all of year seven. Although some provision was in place for part of this period Y did not receive any curriculum based learning for four terms between September 2024 and December 2025.
28. All of the faults caused Miss X and Y distress and impacted on Y’s educational and social development.
29. The Council currently has ongoing action plans and we have made service improvements since the scope of this complaint after finding similar faults following other investigations. Actions the Council has taken or is currently taking include:
• Reviewing its approach to delivering alternative provision
• Reminding staff to act promptly when arranging alternative provision for children not attending school
• During 2025 it reviewed its arrangements for alternative provision providers for children with complex needs to ensure it meets its legal obligations to provide education for children not attending school
30. Given the above I have not made further service improvement recommendations, and we continue to monitor compliance through our casework.

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Action

31. Within one month of the final decision the Council agreed to take the following action:
1. Apologise to Miss X and Y for the distress and uncertainty caused by its failure to secure Y a school placement and provide Y with a suitable education in line with their EHC Plan between September 2024 and 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.
2. Pay Miss X a total of £5800 to acknowledge the impact caused to Y by their loss of education and provision in line with their EHC Plan between September 2024 and December 2025. This also recognises the distress and uncertainty caused to Miss X.
32. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

33. I found fault causing injustice and the Council agreed to my recommendations to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman