Oxfordshire County Council to pay compensation to family after failing to make alternative school arrangements for child

The child, who has additional needs, attended a mainstream school but began to find it increasingly challenging due to changes in their needs.

The delays in the county council’s process for making alternative provisions meant the child did not receive any school provision between October 2023 and February 2024.

The parent complained to the local government ombudsman and said the delays had caused uncertainty and distress.

The Local Government Ombudsman found Oxfordshire County Council failed to arrange alternative school provision for four months after the child was no longer able to attend the school.

We asked which school this applied to, but this was not disclosed by authorities.

The ombudsman also concluded the council significantly delayed finalising the child’s Educational Health and Care (EHC) plan, which sets out what arrangements should be made for a young person with special educational needs following their annual review.

Oxfordshire County Council agreed to apologise, pay the parent £1,450 and carry out improvements to ensure this does not happen again in the future.

In September 2023, the child’s parent told the school that their child could no longer go to the school and asked them to tell the council so that alternative provision could be arranged.

Oxfordshire County Council was told about the change of plans for the child’s education in October 2023, but it did not submit its request for a specialist school place for the child until early January 2024.

The report said the delay caused the child to “avoidably” miss out on alternative educational provision and that this was “an injustice to them at an already challenging time”.

The panel responded it could not make a decision until it had been sent a new EHC plan because the previous plan did not show the change in the child’s needs.

The county council had to resubmit the EHC plan in February after several redrafts, with the panel deciding the council should explore a specialist place for the child.

A spokesperson for the county council said: ‘We are committed to providing the best education and support for every young person in Oxfordshire and have agreed a course of action with the local government ombudsman for this particular case.

“The national average for completing Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) within 20 weeks was 50.3 per cent in 2023.

“Oxfordshire County Council’s figure for May 2024 was 57.9 per cent. This is up from four per cent in January 2023.”

The county council has not disclosed any further information about the case for confidentiality reasons.

EHC plans must be reviewed every 12 months at a minimum.

The county council is responsible for children’s social care and SEND across Oxfordshire.