Case Ref: 24 006 871 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with an explanation and evidence of how it has improved internal processes for considering its Section 19 responsibility and making the necessary arrangements to put alternative provision in place in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 24 005 022 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• Revise its procedures to ensure the education of children on part time tables is monitored effectively and kept under regular review so that education can be increased as soon as a child is ready.

Case Ref: 24 002 995 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its processes and ensure it has clear procedures in place for how it carries out oversight of children with Education, Health and Care Plans who are not attending named placements to ensure it meets its Section 42 duty to provide the specialist provision set out in their Plans and the action it should take when the provision is not in place.
• The Council will provide training for all relevant officers on the Council’s duty under Section 42 of the Children and Families Act.

Case Ref: 23 019 340 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide guidance and training to staff about the importance of recognising and acting on information it receives detailing a child’s failure to access education. This guidance and training should focus on the Council’s responsibility to consider and act on its Section 19 when a child has been absent from school for 15 days, whether consecutive or cumulative.
• Provide guidance and training to staff about considering a child’s individual needs when considering what alternative provision of education is suitable for a child.

Case Ref: 23 017 328 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Issue guidance to appropriate officers to ensure that the relevant services are aware of when they should escalate cases where children are not receiving a full time education. This is to enable the Council to consider if it has a duty under section 19 of the Education Act to provide alternative provision for them.
• Review its procedures to ensure alternative provision which meets achild’s needs is made without delay in the event the Council has accepted aduty under section 19 of the Education Act.
• Review its complaints procedure to make clear that the Council may consider a complaint informally and to consider if a complaint which has been considered informally should then be considered at stage two in the event of escalation. This is to ensure transparency in how the Council considers complaints and to ensure the Council does not add an extra stage to the published complaints procedure.

Case Ref: 23 015 086 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will remind staff about the importance of providing clear and consistent information about possible transport implications from the decision to name parental preference in Section I of an EHC plan. Staff should also be reminded of the requirement to notify parents in writing of the possible need to review an EHC plan in the event the parent becomes unwilling or unable to fund the transport to their preferred placement.

Case Ref: 23 014 942 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide training to staff about the importance of ensuring any provisions detailed in Section F of a child's EHC Plan is quantifiable and specific.

Case Ref: 23 009 513 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will put in place a process to track when annual reviews for EHC plans are due and to ensure cases are followed up on once a review has taken place.

Case Ref: 23 009 011 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind officers the SEN Code of Practice says special educational provision included in Section F must be detailed and specific and should normally be quantified, for example, in terms of the type, hours and frequency of support and level of expertise.
• The Council will remind officers of its duty to make sure a child or young person receives the special educational provision set out in Section F of an EHC Plan, under Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014.
• The Council will review its processes to ensure it can show the special educational provision detailed in a young person's EHC Plan is in place, once a new EHC Plan is issued.

Case Ref: 23 008 082 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will remind relevant staff that it must issue a final amended Education, Health and Care plan within eight weeks of a review, in line with the statutory guidance.
• The Council will review how it consults schools where a child needs a change of placement to ensure it makes sufficient and timely consultations. The Council will produce an action plan with timescales for any improvements it identifies.
• The Council will present the Ombudmsan's investigation that found it had failed to provide education and specialist provision to a child, and its complaints policy not to provide a financial payment to remedy lost education or provision, at a relevant scrutiny committee meeting for discussion.