Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the education and support provided for her child, Y over the last five years. Part of the complaint is late. In relation to the Council’s recent actions, it is unlikely we would find fault or that an investigation would lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has failed to provide her child Y with suitable education and special educational support for the last five years. She says as a result, Y has missed out on education and social development opportunities, and the matter has caused her distress and financial loss. She wants the Council to apologise, find Y a suitable education setting and provide a financial remedy for the lost education and distress caused.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
• (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X brought her complaint to us in December 2025. We will not investigate the Council’s actions before December 2024 because this part of the complaint is late. If she was unhappy with the Council’s actions before December 2024, she could have approached us sooner.
7. In its complaint response, the Council set out the actions it had taken since December 2024. It said that in December 2024, Ms X had decided to electively home educate Y. There was a SEND Tribunal decision in late 2024 which decided Y needed a specialist placement, and the Council had been trying since then to secure a specialist setting. It upheld her complaint that it had not yet found a suitable placement. It said in the meantime, it had offered Y alternative educational provision, but Ms X had not engaged with this.
8. It said it would continue to search for a suitable placement for Y and would keep Ms X updated.
9. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council has accepted delay in securing a specialist placement for Y and apologised to Ms X for this. It offered Y alternative educational provision whilst it tried to secure a placement, which is what we would expect in this situation. It was Ms X’s decision to home educate Y and not to engage with the Council’s offer of alternative provision. It is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s actions on this point and an investigation would be unlikely to lead to a different outcome.
10. The Council is continuing to search for a suitable placement for Y and agreed to keep her updated on progress. It has accepted it has a shortage of specialist placements in its area, but I am satisfied it has an appropriate action plan in place and is working to increase the number of specialist places available. As the Council is already working to improve its capacity, an investigation would be unlikely to achieve more than this.
11. The Council also upheld that it had delayed holding an annual review in February 2025. In its complaint response, it apologised to Ms X and agreed to arrange this. This is a suitable response and an investigation would be unlikely to achieve anything more.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because part of the complaint is late and it is unlikely an investigation would add to the Council’s response or achieve anything more.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman