ADHD Boy Missed His GCSEs After Brent Council Left Him Without A School Place For Three Months

A teenager with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder missed his GCSE examinations after a London council failed to provide him with a school place for around three months, an official investigation has found.
Brent Council has been ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation following a ruling by the Local Government Ombudsman, which concluded the authority failed in its duty to arrange alternative education for the boy, identified in the report only as Y, within a reasonable timeframe.
Y, who had significant difficulties with language and communication and was supported by an education, health and care plan, was removed from his school roll in March 2024 after returning from a short period living abroad. The ombudsman found that the school failed to notify the council of this as it was required to do, contributing to the delay in securing a new placement.
Once the council became aware of Y’s situation, it was found to have taken too long to arrange suitable provision. Brent Council told investigators it had organised 15 hours of tuition per week for Y as part of its standard interim education practice, though Y’s mother, referred to as Miss X, disputed this, claiming her son received only two hours weekly. In the absence of supporting evidence either way, the ombudsman accepted the council’s account.
The report acknowledged the considerable difficulty the council would have faced in finding Y a school place given how close the situation arose to his GCSE examination dates. Investigators concluded that even with prompt action, it would have been very unlikely Y could have sat his exams given how far behind he had fallen academically.
Nevertheless, the ombudsman ruled that Brent Council had a clear duty to provide alternative education before mid-July 2024 and that its failure to do so in time caused Miss X avoidable frustration, time and trouble. The £1,000 payment was ordered in recognition of Y’s lost education during the period the council was at fault.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​