A MUM has said she felt 'misled' after delays by an Oxfordshire council led to her son losing a place at a special school.

The Local Government Ombudsman has upheld a complaint by the mum, named as Mrs X in an official report, whose son was only given a place at a special school after a year's delay.

The ombudsman found Oxfordshire County Council was 'at fault when it delayed in carrying out a needs assessment' for her autistic son, and 'failed to provide clear information' about her appeal rights which could have allowed him to attend a special school.

The public watchdog also found that the delay in preparing the Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan 'caused Mrs X uncertainty' and that her son 'may have been able to start at his special school earlier if the faults had not occurred'.

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The ombudsman also said the mum had been 'misinformed' by the council because of the way it had handled her request for help, and she accused the council of having 'misled' her.

Mrs X had begun speaking to the council in late-2018, after her son had been diagnosed with autism while he was in nursery.

A council board met, and said it thought providing an EHC Plan would be best for the child, which is a special legal document setting out the exact needs a child with special needs or a disability has for the classroom.

The board expected a plan to be started in Autumn 2019, but when Mrs X contacted the council in September of that year, one had not been started.

She became anxious because she did not think a plan could be finished by January 2020, the date by which she had to apply for schools for her son, and had wanted him to be placed in a special school.

A council officer told her that her son would not need the plan until he started school in September 2020, and advised her to also apply for both special mainstream school places as no places were guaranteed.

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Because the council did not inform Mrs X within 10 days a special school had not offered her son a place due to a lack of 'compatibility', she missed out on a chance to appeal against this decision.

Her son was offered a place at another mainstream school, which said it was able to support him, but she was unhappy with this.

She and her husband have since had to use their holiday entitlement from work to support their son.

The council has paid Mrs X £300 'for the uncertainty it caused her by the faults identified in this decision statement'.

According to the ombudsman, it has also helped her son find a place at a different special school, which he will start attending in September this year.