A council has been told to apologise and pay a boy and his mother a total of £3,400 after he missed out on full-time education for six months.
Oxfordshire County Council caused "unnecessary distress and expense" to the family.
The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) said the authority failed to provide the boy, who has special needs, with alternative education between April and October 2021.
The council has been asked to comment.
The LGO found the local authority was to blame for "fault and delay" in the way it carried out an annual review process into the boy's education.
Various delays from December 2020 were only resolved in July, when a tribunal ordered the boy should attend his mother's preferred school from September.
The council was told to pay the boy £2,400 to acknowledge he did not receive suitable full-time education during the six-month period.
It was also told to pay the boy a further £500 "for the uncertainty and distress of whether, but for the fault, he could have started at his placement sooner".
His mother will also receive £500 in compensation "for the uncertainty, distress and time and trouble caused".
On 1 November, parents of children with special needs protested outside the council ahead of a meeting.
The authority's deputy leader Liz Brighouse said while some children were being "let down", a lack of funding from government was hampering what it can provide.
The government said funding was at record levels.
Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
Mum at 'all-time low' over special school battle
Children being 'let down' by council services
Council 'needs to make savings of £50m'
Special educational needs help 'not good enough'
Council to pay family £6,600 over late care plan
Oxfordshire County Council
Annual Operation Christmas Child shoebox is underway and taking donations
Oxford park taped off by police and blocked by officers
Reaction to 'dangerous' Oxford Academy crash driver being spared jail
Large police presence as officers tape off entire park in Oxford
JERICHO 'MURDER': More tributes appear overnight at scene of fatal stabbing
Abingdon could see new 20mph limits as approval recommended
Allies trying to establish facts behind Poland missile hit – Sunak
Six ways it's harder for Trump to run this time
Donald Trump says he'll run for president in 2024
Why US election results are taking so long
Weekly quiz: What was Trump's nickname for rival?
Soldiers embrace family after liberating Kherson. Video
Katty Kay: My interview with election-denier Kari Lake
Families seek answers over Qatar building deaths
How we get humans back to the Moon
Six ways it's harder for Trump to run this time
COP27 host's oil pollution threatens 'super coral'
Pakistan's lost city of 40,000 people
The X-rated cartoon that shocked the US
The sand battery making waves in Finland
The mindset employers want now
© 2022 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
Oxfordshire County Council to pay out £3,400 for education failings – BBC
Add A Comment