Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to ensure her daughter received a suitable education when she was unable to attend school. Mrs X also complained the Council has failed to ensure her daughter received the special educational provision set out in Section F of her Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. We found the Council’s failure to ensure Y received a suitable full time education between November 2024 and July 2025 is fault. As is the failure to provide the provision set out in the EHC Plan. These faults have caused Mrs X and Y distress and uncertainty and meant Y missed out on a suitable education for a whole academic year. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Mrs X.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council failed to ensure her daughter received a suitable education. Mrs X’s daughter has not attended school since November 2024 and prior to that could only attend a small number of 1:1 sessions.
2. Mrs X also complained the Council has failed to ensure her daughter received the special educational provision set out in Section F of her EHC Plan.

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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 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)
5. 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)
6. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the Tribunal in this decision statement.
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. We expect people to come to us within 12 months of them thinking the Council has done something wrong. As Mrs X contacted us in September 2025, we will consider events since September 2024.
10. Mrs X also complained the Council named School 1 in her daughter’s EHC Plan despite concerns it would not be able to deliver the provision in Section F of the Plan. I have not investigated this complaint as we cannot direct changes to the sections of an EHC plan about their needs, education, or the name of the educational placement. Only the tribunal or council can do this.

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How I considered this complaint

11. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
12. Mrs 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

Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

13. 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 which include: 
• Section B: Special educational needs.  
• Section C: Health needs related to the child or young person’s SEN.
• Section D: Social care needs related to the child or young person’s SEN
• Section F: The special educational provision needed by the child or the young person. 
• Section I: The name and/or type of educational placement 
14. 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)  

Alternative provision

15. Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 says that the council 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.
16. 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.

What happened here

17. The following is a summary of the key events relevant to our consideration of the complaint. It does not include everything that happened.
18. Mrs X’s daughter, Y was on roll at a mainstream secondary school, School 1. She found it difficult to attend and had been on a reduced timetable with 1:1 support since late 2023.
19. At the start of the Autumn term in September 2024, Mrs X agreed with School 1 that Y would start with a reduced timetable of 1 hour a day with 1:1 support sessions. Y found this support difficult to engage with and by November 2024 was unable to access any learning at School 1 and stopped attending. Mrs X asked School 1 to provide alternative provision until an alternative school was found.
20. Mrs X had asked the Council to carry out an EHC needs assessment, and said their preference was for a special school
21. The Council issued an EHC Plan in February 2025, naming School 1 in Section I. In its response to the EHC Plan consultation, School 1 told the Council it would be unable to meet Y’s needs as set out in the EHC Plan. It said that if the Council considered Y should continue at School 1 it would need access to alternative provision in the form of a therapeutic environment and a targeted academic outreach provider.
22. Mrs X contacted the Council in early March 2025 asking for alternative provision and suggested two providers she considered suitable. The Council confirmed it would contact School 1 to discuss this.
23. School 1 arranged online tuition in English and Maths for two hours a day, four days a week. This started on 18 March 2025. Mrs X chased School 1 for an update on the alternative provision settings. School 1 told Mrs X it had not had any contact from the Council regarding alternative provision.
24. The Council’s records show an officer contacted School 1 on 4 April 2025 to confirm what provision Y was receiving and whether it had sought alternative provision. School 1 told the Council it would need support to arrange the alternative provision as it would need to look at how this was funded, and the aim. On 24 April 2025 the Council confirmed School 1 could make the referrals and then request funding.
25. Mrs X continued to chase School 1 for alternative provision in May and June 2025. Mrs X also appealed to the SEND Tribunal in relation to School 1 being named in section I of Y’s EHC Plan.
26. On 13 June 2025 Mrs X made a formal complaint to the Council about School 1 being named in Y’s EHC Plan and the failure to provide Y with a suitable education or the provision set out in Section F of her EHC Plan. She asked the Council to make immediate referrals to the alternative provision settings and agree funding; to extend the tuition to include science; and to identify any other provisions in section F not covered by the alternative provision. Mrs X also asked the Council to amend section I to reflect a special school setting.
27. The Council responded on 7 July 2025. It partially upheld Mrs X’s complaint about a failure to provide a suitable education. The Council noted Y had access to Maths and English tuition and that School 1 would be making referrals to the alternative provision settings for September 2025. It acknowledged that this could have been acted upon sooner given that the EHC plan was finalised in February 2025.
28. The Council also upheld Mrs X’s complaint about the failure to deliver the provision in section F of Y’s EHC Plan. It said that as Y was unable to attend school it was always going to be difficult to ensure all of the provision was adhered to. It apologised for the delays in implementing this provision.
29. School 1 made a referral to an alternative provision setting in early July 2025.
30. Mrs X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and asked for her complaint to be considered further. She said the current arrangement of 1.5 hours a day four days a week of online, academic group based tuition was not full time. Nor was it suitable for Y’s needs as it did not provide any of the provision in section F of the EHC Plan.
31. Mrs X was also unhappy that the delays in referrals to the alternative provision settings meant Y would also start the next academic year without a suitable education. There was no indication how long the referrals would take or for any funding arrangements to be processed.
32. The Council responded in late August 2025. It considered its previous response had addressed all of Mrs X’s concerns.
33. Mrs X remains dissatisfied and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her concerns.
34. Since complaining to us Y started tuition in English, English literature, Maths, Science and Geography in October 2025. She also started alternative provision for two days per week in November 2025.
35. Mrs X says there was no urgency by the Council to ensure that by September 2025 Y could start Year 10 of her education in an effective placement. Mrs X says the Council’s failures will have a significant impact on Y’s GCSE outcomes as she will go into Year 11 without a solid Year 10 foundation and will need to catch up.

Analysis

36. The law is clear that councils must intervene and provide education under their section 19 Education Act duty if no suitable educational provision has been made, for example by their school, for a child who is missing education through exclusion, illness or otherwise. This means that once the Council was aware Y was not attending school it needed to consider its legal duties and take action where appropriate.
37. The Council needed to consider whether Y was receiving a suitable education, and whether this education was “reasonably available and accessible” to her.
38. The Council would have been aware Y was struggling to attend school and had been on a reduced time table for a significant amount of time. The EHC needs assessment request Mrs X submitted in September 2024 also outlined the lack of suitable education and her request for alternative provision.
39. The Council accepts that once Y’s EHC Plan was issued in February 2025 it should have acted sooner to arrange alternative provision. But does not appear to have considered its duty prior to that.
40. There is no evidence the Council considered whether it had a section 19 duty to provide suitable alternative provision when Y stopped attending School 1 in November 2024. The failure to consider whether it had a duty to provide Y with section 19 provision is fault.
41. The failure to ensure Y received the provision set out on Section F of her EHC Plan from February 2025 is also fault.
42. Y received some online group tuition from March 2025, but this was not a full time education. Full-time education is not defined but is commonly held to be equivalent to between 22 and 25 hours a week, depending on the age of the child. Council’s may decide a child cannot cope with full-time provision. There is no record of how the Council or School 1 determined that eight hours tuition per week was appropriate, or that this was reviewed with a view to increasing it.
43. The Council’s failure to meet its section 19 duties means that Y missed out on a suitable education for just over a term. She then received some but not full education for the remainder of the academic year but did not receive the provision in section F of her EHC Plan. This is a significant injustice.
44. When a young person has missed education as a result of fault by the Council, we may recommend the Council makes a symbolic payment of between £900 to £2,400 per term to acknowledge the education they have missed and help them to catch up. In determining an appropriate level we will take account of factors such as:
• the child’s SEN as set out in the EHC plan;
• any educational provision that was made during the period;
• whether additional provision now can remedy some or all of that loss.
45. The symbolic payment is intended to remedy injustice caused to the child from missing provision, as well as the normal range of consequential injustice also caused to the family due to this fault, for example; the additional caring responsibilities that occur from a child being out of education and avoidable disruption to daily routine.
46. In the circumstances I consider a payment of £2,000 for the failure to provide an appropriate education between November 2024 and March 2025 would be appropriate. With a further payment of £1,200 for the failure to provide a full time education and the provision in Y’s EHC Plan between March 2025 and July 2025.
47. We have recently made a service improvement recommendation regarding the s19 alternative education provision in another case. I do not intend to repeat the recommendation here.

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Action

48. The Council has agreed to:
• apologise to Mrs X and Y for not providing a suitable education for a whole academic year. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• pay Mrs X £2,000 to recognise Y’s missed education between November 2024 and March 2025.
• Pay Mrs X £1,200 to recognise that Y only received a partial education between March 2025 and July 2025 and did not receive the provisions in her EHC Plan.
49. The Council should take this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint and provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

50. I find fault causing injustice. The Council should agree actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman