Mum wins payment after son misses out on schooling

A mother has won £3,600 and a written apology from a council after its delays caused her son to miss out on education.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said the family faced an "excessive" seven-month wait for alternative provision for the boy, who has special educational needs (Send).

A report said Cambridgeshire County Council was told the child was struggling to attend school and had been issued an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in February 2024, while the family was living in another local authority area.

It found the mother and son had "lost the opportunity" for provision due to delays in logging an updated review for the EHCP in Cambridgeshire after moving.

EHCPs set out the arrangements and additional support children with Send require.

As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the boy struggled to attend school after starting Year 7 in September 2024.

After the family moved to Cambridgeshire in October 2024, his mother contacted the authority to highlight the difficulties he was experiencing at school.

The ombudsman found there were delays in carrying out an annual review of his EHCP due to capacity issues and the use of agency staff.

The boy stopped attending school in February 2025, the same month an annual review of his plan took place.

The council later admitted it delayed logging the review so a case worker could process amendments.

"Alternative provision was eventually put into place in May 2025, seven months after her initial request," the ombudsman said.

"I consider these failures caused Mrs Y and Z [the mother and the boy] injustice."

By mid-May, alternative provision of 15 hours a week had started, but Mrs Y claimed the support was not successful.

The report said Z was now on the roll of a school named in his plan but only stayed there for a maximum of 30 minutes a day.

Mrs Y had appealed against the decision to allocate this school to Z, with the outcome to be decided by a tribunal.

The ombudsman instructed the council to apologise in writing, pay Mrs Y £3,600 in recognition of the impact of lost education provision and review why it failed to respond and act on the request in October 2024.

A council spokesperson said it accepted the findings and had sent an apology and made a payment to the family.

They said the council was investing a further £780,000 to improve Send services and reduce delays.

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