Summary: We have upheld Ms X’s complaint about a failure to provide a specialist school placement for her child, Y, and delay putting in place alternative provision following a SEND Tribunal order. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by paying Ms X £2400 in recognition of the distress caused by the delay and the injustice caused to Y by a term’s lost education and special educational provision. This is a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused, so we will not investigate.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council failed to comply with a SEND Tribunal order from August 2025. The order required the Council to provide her child, Y, with a specialist school placement and for alternative provision to be provided without delay, until a specialist placement was found. She says the Council did not find a specialist placement and there was a delay putting in place alternative provision, which did not start until January 2026. This meant Y missed out on a term’s education and special educational provision and caused her frustration and distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
3. 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.
4. The Ombudsman’s view, based on caselaw, is that ‘service failure’ is an objective, factual question about what happened. A finding of service failure does not imply blame, intent or bad faith on the part of the council involved. There may be circumstances where we conclude service failure has occurred and caused an injustice to the complainant despite the best efforts of the council. This still amounts to fault. We may recommend a remedy for the injustice caused and/or that the council makes service improvements. (R (on the application of ER) v CLA (LGO) [2014] EWCA civ 1407) 
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 information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Following the Tribunal order in August 2025, the Council made appropriate efforts to arrange alternative educational provision for Y. However, for a variety of reasons, the alternative provision did not start until January 2026.
9. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice because although I acknowledge the Council’s efforts between September and December 2025, Y’s alternative provision did not start until January 2026. This delay caused Ms X frustration and distress and means Y missed out on a term’s worth of education and special educational provision.
10. We therefore asked the Council to consider resolving the complaint early, by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused. The Council agreed to our request.

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Agreed action

11. Within one month of our final decision, the Council will pay Ms X £2400 in recognition of the frustration and distress caused by the delay and the injustice caused to Y by a term’s lost education and special educational provision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman