Summary: We found fault with the Council delaying by ten weeks outside the statutory timescales in reviewing Mr X’s child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. We did not find this caused a significant personal injustice to Mr X or his child. We did not find fault with the educational provision put in place by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council placed his child, Y, in a mainstream school when they moved into the local area in 2023. Mr X says this school placement broke down after two weeks and was distressing for Y. Mr X says it took Y six to eight months to recover from this and the family is still feeling the impact of this today.
2. Mr X says Y was out of school which impacted not just Y but the wider family.

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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 consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. 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)
6. 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)
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. I have investigated Mr X’s concerns about his child’s access to education from 26 April 2024.
10. I have not investigated matters before 26 April 2024, including the Council’s decision to place Y at a mainstream school in September 2023, because Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman in July 2025. The Ombudsman cannot investigate matters more than 12 months before a complaint was brought to us without good reason. Given the Council made a decision about Y’s long-term education on 26 April 2024, and Mr X first complained to the Council in May 2025, I have decided to consider Mr X’s complaint back to 26 April 2024, slightly beyond the normal 12 months. I have referenced events before this date for context but have made no findings on these events.
11. I have also not investigated any contents of the Final Education, Health and Care Plans the Council produced for Mr X’s child. This is because the content of a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan is appealable to the tribunal as the appropriate body to consider such matters.

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How I considered this complaint

12. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
13. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision before I made a final decision.

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What I found

Rules and regulations

EHC Plan 

14. 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 the council can do this. 
15. The council must arrange for the EHC Plan to be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it is up to date. The council must complete the review within 12 months of the first EHC Plan and within 12 months of any later reviews. The annual review begins with consulting the child’s parents or the young person and the educational placement. A review meeting must then take place. Following the review meeting the council must issue a decision to either amend, maintain or cease to maintain the EHC Plan. This must happen within four weeks of the meeting. (Section 20(10) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.176) 
16. If the council decides not to amend an EHC Plan or decides to cease to maintain it, it must inform the child’s parents or the young person of their right to appeal the decision to the tribunal.
17. Where the council proposes to amend an EHC Plan, the law says it must send the child’s parent or the young person a copy of the existing (non-amended) Plan and an accompanying notice providing details of the proposed amendments, including copies of any evidence to support the proposed changes. (Section 22(2) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.194). Case law sets out this should happen within four weeks of the date of the review meeting. Case law also found councils must issue the final amended EHC Plan within a further eight weeks.

Section 19 duty

18. Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 says that councils 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.

Establishing a section 19 duty

19. If a council discovers a child is absent from school for an extended period, it should consider the reasons for this, and take account of evidence from relevant parties (such as the child’s school, parents, and medical professionals). It must then decide whether it has a duty to make alternative educational provision.
20. If a council wants to see medical or other evidence, it should ask for it at the earliest opportunity. The council should account for any challenges a parent might have in obtaining evidence, and review its position based on any new evidence it receives.
21. 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.

Good practice guidance

22. We publish good practice guidance on how we expect councils to fulfil their responsibilities to identify and arrange alternative educational provision: Supporting children out of school (October 2025)
23. Our guidance says that councils should:

• consider all the reasons for a child’s absence from school, and make a written evidence-based decision about whether it will arrange alternative education provision;
• communicate this decision as a matter of good practice to parents and where it decides not to arrange alternative education tell parents the expectations about school attendance, and the potential consequences for continued absences;
• ensure the provision meets the individual needs of the child where it decides to arrange alternative education and explain its reasons for providing a part-time education if it decides the child cannot cope with full time provision;
• keep all cases of part-time education under review with a view to increasing when the child is able;
• work with parents and schools to draw up plans to reintegrate children to their normal educational setting as soon as possible, reviewing and amending plans as necessary; and
• ensure effective channels of communication between parents, internal teams, and external bodies (such as schools, and the NHS) so that issues are dealt with promptly by the right people, and that any complaints are identified and responded to under the relevant policy.

24. Where councils arrange for schools or other bodies to carry out their functions on their behalf, the council remains responsible. Therefore councils should retain oversight and control to ensure their duties are properly fulfilled.

What happened

Background information

25. In August 2023, the Council decided to place Y at a mainstream school, School 1, with thirteen hours of Alternative Provision of education, through Provider 1, to support this placement. Y started at this school placement in September 2023.
26. In October 2023, Y stopped attending the school placement. The Council agreed to provide eight hours of tuition for Y as Alternative Provision of education alongside an increase from thirteen to fifteen hours with Provider 1. The Council put this in place by mid-October 2023. The Council also held an annual review meeting for Y’s EHC Plan in October 2023 and issued a decision to amend this plan.
27. In December 2023, the Council named an alternative school, School 2, as Y’s educational placement from January 2024 in Y’s EHC Plan. Y started the placement at School 2 in mid-January 2024 alongside the provision from Provider 1.
28. Y’s placement at School 2 was not successful and the Council arranged for ten hours of extra Alternative Provision of education with a new provider alongside the fifteen hours with Provider 1. Y started to access this at the start of March 2024.

Matters subject to this complaint

29. On 26 April 2024, the Council issued an amended Final EHC Plan for Y naming a specialist school placement for Y from September 2024.
30. Y continued to access a total of 25 hours of Alternative Provision of education until the end of the 2023/2024 academic year.
31. In September 2024, Y started to attend their educational placement at the specialist school.
32. In November 2024, the Council held an annual review of Y’s EHC Plan. This recommended to maintain Y’s EHC Plan.
33. The Council sent a letter confirming it would maintain Y’s EHC Plan in December 2024.
34. Mr X made a complaint to the Council in May 2025 about the Council’s decision to place Y in a mainstream school from September 2023. Mr X said the placement at the mainstream school was not suitable for Y and caused a wider impact on the family. Mr X says the placement from September 2024 has been a success.
35. The Council provided a complaint response in July 2025. The Council apologised for the time taken to secure a suitable placement for Y but said it was glad the current placement was going well. The Council directed Mr X to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Analysis

Education provided

36. When a child is not attending school, a council should consider if this child needs Alternative Provision of education outside school. At the start point of my investigation period, the Council had already accepted Y needed Alternative Provision of education outside school and arranged provision for Y. The Council put this provision in place because the two educational placements it arranged for Y in the academic year 2023/2024 had not been successful.
37. Full-time education is not defined, but is commonly held to be equivalent to between twenty-two and twenty-five hours a week, depending on the age of the child, with those of infant school age towards the lower end per week.
38. Y was an infant school aged child. Despite this, the Council still arranged Alternative Provision of education for Y at twenty-five hours each week across two providers. The Council considered Y’s individual circumstances when it put in place these twenty-five hours of Alternative Provision of education and this provision is at the upper end of provision we would expect to see.
39. The Council has shown from 26 April 2024 the plan was for Y to receive Alternative Provision of education until Y started at their new school placement in September 2024 when they would reintegrate into education. The Council kept Y’s Alternative Provision of education under review through weekly reports from each provider and ensured this was suitable to meet Y’s needs until they could start at their new school placement. Mr X has confirmed with the Council Y’s new school placement was successful with over 90% attendance since September 2024 supporting this.
40. The Council has taken appropriate action to provide Y with suitable education while they could not attend their school placement and ensured this met Y’s needs until they could attend the new school placement. I do not find fault with how the Council.

Education, Health and Care Plan review

41. Since the Council issued a formal letter confirming its decision to amend Y’s EHC Plan in October 2023, it had 12 months from this decision date to complete the next annual review of Y’s EHC Plan. This annual review includes both the meeting and the subsequent decision letter by the Council to maintain, amend or cease the EHC Plan.
42. The Council did not hold another annual review meeting for Y’s EHC Plan until the end of November 2024 and issued its decision to maintain the EHC Plan in December 2024. In total, the Council delayed by ten weeks outside the statutory timescales in completing the annual review process for Y’s EHC Plan; this was fault.
43. While this delay was fault, this did not cause a significant personal injustice to Mr X or Y. For the entire delay duration, Y was attending a suitable school placement, as confirmed by Mr X. Mr X has also not disputed the delivery of Y’s EHC Plan provision at this new placement. Since the Council’s decision in December 2024 was to maintain Y’s EHC Plan, there was no change in the provision.

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Decision

44. I have completed my investigation as the fault by the Council did not lead to a significant injustice to Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman