The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s actions linked to her son’s education. We found fault because the Council failed to provide adequate education to Y after he had been excluded from school. This caused Miss X avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty and meant Y did not access the education he should have. The Council suggested a remedy for this injustice. The Council will now apologise to Miss X and complete its suggested remedy.
The complaint
Miss X complains about the Council’s actions relating to her son, Y’s, education after he was excluded from school. She says the Council did not provide him with appropriate education and took too long to agree and organise alternative educational provision for him.
Miss X says this has caused her avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty. She says Y has missed out on education he was due.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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) Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
What I have and have not investigated My investigation begins when Y was excluded from school in mid-February 2025 and ends when the Council issued its final complaint response on 21 October 2025.
How I considered this complaint
I considered evidence provided by the Council and Miss X as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
Miss X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I have taken any comments received into consideration before reaching my final decision.
What I found
EHC Plan Special educational needs A child with special educational needs (SEN) may have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. This sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The EHC Plan is set out in sections. Section F of a plan sets out what specialist provision a child is due.
Section 19 duty Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 says that a council 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 SEN they have.
What happened I have set out below a summary of the key events. This is not meant to show everything that happened.
Y was permanently excluded from his secondary school in mid-February 2025. Y already had an EHC Plan in place by this time.
Y had some limited tutoring in summer 2025 but this was not successful.
Miss X completed the Council’s complaint process on 21 October 2025.
Miss X says that in early November 2025, Y began to attend an alternative education provider where he still attends now.
In response to Miss X’s complaint to the Ombudsman, the Council contacted us to outline what it considered as fault in the case and suggest a remedy. It suggested: £5000 for lost education and lack of Section F provision being delivered to Y from February 2025 to September 2025; £500 for lost education from September 2025 to late 2025 whilst the case was reviewed and alternative provision identified; £2000 in recognition of the distress caused by the lack of education and its effect on the family and Y; and £500 for Miss X’s time and trouble in making and pursuing her complaint.
The Council identified several service improvements it intended to make regarding arranging alternative education promptly and linked to EHC Plan reviews.
The Council asked that we discuss the offer with Miss X.
Analysis I have discussed Miss X’s complaint with her and the Council’s remedy offer. Miss X wishes to accept the Council’s offer.
The timeline of the Council’s suggested remedy ends a short time after our investigation.
Considering the evidence presented by the Council, I agree with its assessment of the failings in this case.
Not providing Y with an appropriate alternative education when he had been excluded was fault. Not delivering Section F provision set out in his EHC Plan was also fault. This caused avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty for Miss X and meant Y was without the education he was due.
The Council’s suggested remedy is higher than we would have recommended based on our guidance on remedies. I would therefore be unable to achieve any more. To remedy the injustice caused, I have made a recommendation below.
Agreed action
To remedy the injustice caused by the faults I have identified, the Council has agreed that within four weeks of the date of my final decision, it will: apologise to Miss X for the identified injustice; and pay her £8000 as per its suggested remedy.
The apology written should be in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies on making an effective apology .
The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.
Final decision
I have now completed my investigation. I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman