Summary: Mrs X complained about significant delays in issuing a final Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan and identifying a suitable placement for her son. Mrs X also complained the Council failed to provide her son with a suitable education when he stopped attending school. We found the Council’s delays in issuing a final EHC Plan and failure to prove alternative provision are fault. These faults have caused Mrs X and her son distress and uncertainty and meant Y had a significant period of missed education. The Council will apologise and make payments to Mrs X.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about significant delays in issuing a final EHC Plan and identifying a suitable placement for her son following a Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal order in April 2025.
2. Mrs X also complained the Council failed to provide her son with a suitable education when he stopped attending school in November 2024. Mrs X complained her son did not receive any educational provision until he started at a new school in January 2026.

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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 Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. 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

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. The EHC Plan is set out in sections. We cannot direct changes to the sections about their needs, education, or the name of the educational placement. Only the tribunal or council can do this.
9. There is a right of appeal to the Tribunal against a number of decisions including a decision that it is not necessary to issue an EHC Plan following an assessment.
10. Once a Tribunal has issued a decision the council must carry out the order within a fixed period.

Alternative provision

11. 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.

What happened here

12. The following is a summary of the key events relevant to our consideration of the complaint. It does not include everything that happened.
13. Mrs X’s son Y attended a main stream primary school. In March 2024 Mrs X’s requested an EHC needs assessment for Y. There were significant delays in completing the assessment which I have not considered here as they were the subject of a separate complaint.
14. Y moved to secondary school in September 2024. Y had difficulty accessing the school and stopped attending completely in November 2024.
15. In January 2025 the Council refused to issue an EHC Plan. Mrs X appealed against this decision to the SEND Tribunal. The Council subsequently agreed to issue an EHC Plan and informed the Tribunal. The Tribunal issued a consent order on 23 May 2025 directing the Council to secure an EHC Plan for Y. The Council then had five weeks to issue a final EHC Plan.
16. The Council did not meet this timeframe. It sent Mrs X a draft EHC Plan on 3 July 2025. Mrs X commented on the draft Plan and gave details of the specialist schools she wanted the Council to consult on 17 July 2025. She then chased the Council for an update on 14 August 2025. The Council responded on 22 August 2025 advising it had sent consultations to the schools she had requested as well as Y’s current school.
17. On 14 September 2025 Mrs X made a formal complaint that the Council had still not issued a final EHC Plan. She complained they had to wait weeks between updates and was concerned the Council would name Y’s current school, even though he had not attended that school since November 2024. Mrs X said she had had to leave her job in February 2025 as Y was out of education completely.
18. The Council responded on 29 September 2025 and apologised for the delays since the Tribunal decision. It said Y’s case would be allocated to another officer and they would update Mrs X by 30 September 2025.
19. The Council said there had been a substantial increase in requests for EHC needs assessments which had been challenging to manage. The increase in officer caseloads had reduced the level of communication. The Council set out the actions it was taking to improve its service. This included increased staffing and resource allocation; enhanced monitoring and accountability; and improving communication with parents and carers.
20. Mrs X remained dissatisfied and asked the Ombudsman to investigate her concerns. Mrs X complained the Council had taken too long to issue a final EHC Plan following the Tribunal decision. She said Y had been out of school since November 2024 and despite repeatedly requesting alternative provision, neither the school nor the Council had provided any education. This had had a detrimental impact on her own and Y's wellbeing.
21. In late October 2025 the Council told Mrs X that School 1 had indicated it may be able to meet Y’s needs, two other schools did not have spaces available, and another could not meet Y’s needs. The Council was still awaiting responses form Y’s current school and 2 other schools.
22. On 12 November 2025 the Council told Mrs X School 1 had offered Y a place from January 2026. Mrs X accepted the place. The Council then issued a final EHC Plan naming Y’s current school and then School 1 from January 2026.
23. In response to my enquiries the Council accepts it did not make and maintain Y’s EHC Plan within five weeks of the Tribunal consent order. It also acknowledges that it did not consider its section 19 duty to provide alternative education while Y was out of school. And that it is at fault for not providing alternative provision under its section 19 duty.
24. To remedy the injustice caused by these failings the Council has offered to pay a total of £4,800. This is made up as follows:
• £1,500 for the 15 month delay in in issuing the EHC Plan, It has calculated this at £100 per month since 30 August 2024 which is the date the final Plan would have been issued had it agreed following the needs assessment.
• £600 to recognise the stress and anxiety caused to Y and his family.
• £2,700 to recognise three terms of missed education. This is calculated at £900 per term

Analysis

25. The Ombudsman takes the view that councils must abide by the statutory and legislative requirements under the SEN legislation and guidance. The Council’s failure to meet the required timeframes here is fault. Following the Tribunal’s decision the Council should have issued a final Plan by 27 June 2025. It did not issue the final EHC Plan until 12 November 2025, almost 20 weeks late. This is clearly unacceptable and amounts to fault.
26. The Council’s failure to consider its duty to provide Y with section 19 alternative provision when he stopped attending school in November 2024 is also fault.
27. 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. Failure to do so is fault.
28. The Council acknowledges and accepts these faults and has offered to remedy the injustice these faults have caused. I consider the payments it has offered to remedy the delay in issuing the EHC Plan, and for the stress and anxiety caused to Y and is family are appropriate. However, I consider the payment for missed education should be higher.
29. 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.
30. In this instance Y missed more than a full school year at a significant point in his school career. Y did not return to school after the autumn half term break in 2024 and was then out of education until January 2026.
31. I consider a payment of £7,000 for the failure to provide an appropriate education for three and a half terms between November 2024 and January 2026 would be appropriate. This is calculated at £2,000 per term.
32. The Council has explained following similar cases investigated by the Ombudsman the action it is taking to meet the demands in its SEND service and to reduce the backlog in the EHC needs assessment process. This includes a change in its operational model to improve workload and capacity of its officers. I have therefore not recommended any further service improvements.

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Action

33. Within one month of the final decision the Council will:
• Apologise to Mrs X and Y for the distress and uncertainty, and missed education caused by the faults identified. 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 the £1,500 it has offered for the 15 month delay in in issuing the EHC Plan;
• Pay Mrs X the £600 it has offered to recognise the stress and anxiety caused to Y and his family.
• Pay Mrs X £7,000 to recognise Y’s three and a half terms of missed education between November 2024 and January 2026.
34. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

35. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman