Summary: Mrs X complained the Council did not secure appropriate provision for her son in line with his Education, Health and Care Plan when he stopped attending school. The Council offered a remedy as it accepted fault with not complying with its legal duties and poor communication. This caused significant distress and frustration for the family, and her son missed out on provision he was entitled to. The Council agreed to pay an increased symbolic payment to reflect the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council failed to provide her son with suitable provision after his placement broke down in early 2025. Mrs X says this significantly impacted on her son's mental and emotional wellbeing as well as frustration, distress and inconvenience to him and the family.

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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 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 recommend a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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)
4. 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

5. I discussed the complaint with Mrs X and considered her views.
6. I considered the Council’s responses to Mrs X’s formal complaint, 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 received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and administrative background

Education, Health and Care (EHC) 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. The EHC Plan is set out in sections.
9. 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)  

Background

10. Mrs X’s son (Y) has special educational needs (SEN) and an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. He attended the “School”. He was over 16 years old at the time of the events complained of.

What happened – summary of key relevant events

11. In February 2025, Y stopped attending the School due to a placement breakdown. Multi-Disciplinary Teams became involved and regular meetings held.
12. In August 2025, Mrs X formally complained about the Council’s delays in approving decisions around Y’s education. She said this significantly impacted on Y’s emotional wellbeing during this period, as well as causing issues for the rest of the family. Social care had provided some hours of support during the week, but this was not enough for Y’s needs.
13. In September 2025, the Council responded at Stage 1. It said it made a tuition offer, but Mrs X declined due to the number of hours. It acknowledged a lack of timely updates to Mrs X about any progress and apologised. The Council accepted it was at fault. It had a duty to secure provision outlined in Y’s EHC Plan and it had not done this, even with the social care hours.
14. Mrs X escalated her complaint. She pointed out inaccuracies, including the tuition offer made by the Council, which was for the year before. She confirmed it had not made any offers since Y stopped attending the School that year. She asked for urgent action to be taken, given the longstanding delays.
15. In November 2025, the Council responded at Stage 2. It accepted its unacceptable delays in securing Section F provision for Y and poor communication. It apologised for the distress and negative impacts on her family by its faults.
16. It recommended Y’s EHC Plan be reviewed with the aim of allocating provision. It also offered £1,800 to acknowledge Y’s missed provision. It made some recommendations to improve its services based on learning from Mrs X’s complaint. Mrs X then complained to us.

Analysis

17. To its credit, the Council accepted it was at fault for not complying with its legal duty to secure the special educational provision outlined in Y’s EHC Plan. It offered a positive remedy to recognise this; but I do not consider this sufficient to reflect the injustice. It also acknowledged fault for lack of communication, causing avoidable injustice to Mrs X. I made increased remedy recommendations considering the above, more in line with our guidance on remedies.
18. The Council has already apologised to Mrs X for the above faults, so I do not consider an additional apology is necessary. I am also satisfied with the service improvements recommendations it made itself.

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Agreed Action

19. To remedy the personal injustice set out above, the Council agreed to carry out the following actions within one month of the final decision:
• Pay Mrs X a symbolic payment of £2,600 to acknowledge the impacts to her and Y with missed provision over roughly 2 school terms between February and November 2025. This could be used for Y’s educational benefit; and
• Pay Mrs X a symbolic payment of £100 to acknowledge the impact of the additional injustice of frustration due to the Council’s poor communication and lack of updates.
20. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

21. I find fault causing injustice. The Council agreed to my recommendations to remedy the injustice. I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman