Council to pay £8,200 after failings see child miss school for 20 months

Central Bedfordshire Council must say sorry and pay £8,200 to the mother and her son for its failings.

There was fault and delay by the council in completing an annual review, amending an education, health and care plan (EHCP) and identifying a new school setting, said a local government and social care ombudsman’s report.

“This caused loss of education, distress and placed additional caring responsibilities on the mother.

“She complained CBC failed to:

• provide a suitable educational setting for her child’s needs;
• complete an annual review and issue a final amended EHCP within statutory timescales;
• identify an appropriate new school placement;
• offer a suitable education while the child was out of school;
• and consult parental preference schools.

“She said her son missed out on full-time education and social interaction because of the alleged fault, with additional caring responsibilities placed on her as a parent carer.

“She complained to CBC in April 2025 about lack of support at school, delay finalising the EHCP, and the part-time alternative provision. An independent special school she identified had a place available after Easter.

“If she didn’t agree with the local authority’s choice of school, when the final EHCP was issued, she could use her right of appeal, the council said.”

Documents provided to the ombudsman show CBC consulted three settings in September 2025 and one in January 2026, explained the report.

“The mother told us two of these schools were her suggestions, but the council refused to consult two independent special schools despite them having places available.

The final EHCP was due in early June, but wasn’t issued until November 2025. It continued to name a mainstream school the child wasn’t attending.

“Her son stopped attending alternative provision in or about October 2025, as this broke down when staffing changed. The school arranged tuition instead, but she told us there was a gap before this started.

“Asked whether it owed the child a duty to provide suitable alternative education under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996, the council said the alternative provision was funded through the EHCP mechanism.

“The council’s view was the reason for three-day offer was because ‘it was what was manageable for him at this time’. CBC says it monitored the provision and it ‘could have been adapted, depending on progress and engagement’.

“After an EHCP annual review meeting, the council’s decision to amend was made five weeks late. That final amended plan wasn’t issued until November because of staffing shortages, while CBC was trying to agree changes with the mother. This was excessive delay and fault.

“The council’s delay in consulting resource unit placements was fault. CBC still hasn’t found an alternative setting for him to attend. This is service failure, as he’s been out of school since October 2024.

“There was significant drift and delay in the case going to panel between May and November 2025. CBC has so far failed to implement the panel decision, which is fault.

“The council acknowledged it never considered its Section 19 duty to him, which is fault. I’ve seen no medical evidence to support provision of less than full-time, or any evidence that CBC kept this under review.

“It also didn’t engage with the part of the mother’s complaint about the provision being only part-time.” This is also fault, added the report.

“There’s no evidence CBC worked with the school to review progress, set actions, involved the school attendance support team, or referred to other support services to help the family, which is fault.

“Neither was there evidence of a response to requests made for education direct payments to secure therapeutic parts of the special educational provision, which is fault.

“CBC has agreed to apologise and pay the mother £1,900 towards lessons she’s funded, and pay him £6,300 for missed education.”