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A council has paid more than £8,000 to a mother whose son has not received any education since September 2023. The child, who has a number of health conditions, was left without a school place after the special school he had been attending closed down. By December 2023, no other place had been offered, so the mother complained to West Sussex County Council.
In April 2024, with her son still not in school, she took that complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. A report from the Ombudsman found the council to be at fault in four areas – its failure to find a school place for the child when it knew his school would be closing; its inability to find alternative provision, including special educational needs support and therapies listed in his Education, Health and Care Plan; poor communication with the mother; and poor complaint handling, such as taking more than ten months to respond to a stage two complaint when it should have done so within 20 working days. Read more: Hospital bosses want to scrap plan for hundreds of new parking spaces The Ombudsman said: “I acknowledge [the child’s] complex needs made it challenging for the council to find a school or alternative provision placement he could access, and it took steps to source placements or providers.
“However, it is the council’s duty to ensure it has placements and provision available to all children in its area regardless of their needs. I therefore agree the council was, and continues to be, at fault.” In November 2024, the council upheld the mum’s complaint and offered her £100 "for the distress and uncertainty it had caused her".
But the Ombudsman upped that figure to £300, along with another £300 to acknowledge the council’s "significantly delayed complaints handling". A further £7,800 acknowledged the "significant loss of education and special educational needs provision" from September 2023 to the end of January 2025. In total the council paid £8,400.
The Ombudsman also instructed the council to share the steps it had taken and intends to take to address backlogs in its complaints handling. A council spokesman said: “We accept the Ombudsman’s findings and have apologised to the family involved. We have made the recommended payment as well as taking action to improve the service based on these recommendations.
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