North Tyneside Council has agreed to pay £5,900 to a family after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found it failed to provide promised specialist technology that would have allowed a child with special educational needs to learn from home - the second time the Ombudsman has ruled against the council for the same child.

The child has not attended school since September 2022 due to their special educational needs. Following an earlier Ombudsman investigation in August 2023, the council agreed to purchase specialist technology that would enable the child to interact with their class while learning from home.

The council said IT security restrictions and compatibility issues meant the technology could not be provided, but it then failed to arrange any alternative education for 13 months, leaving the child without suitable provision during a crucial GCSE year.

The council also did not attempt to put any other arrangements in place for the child’s education until September 2024. And even then, it relied on the school to make a referral to an alternative provider, chasing the school nine times rather than arranging provision directly.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Mrs Amerdeep Clarke, said:

"This child was promised technology that should have kept them connected to their classroom and their peers at a crucial time in their education. Instead, they received nothing for more than a year. This can only have had a significant and detrimental impact on the child’s education and wellbeing.

“North Tyneside Council allowed this case to drift without any meaningful progress, and I am concerned there appeared to have been no oversight or urgency to ensure this young person received the education they were entitled to, especially given the council’s previous agreement.

“I now hope the change it has committed to make to its management of alternative provision does in fact take place and will ensure greater oversight in future of services for children who cannot attend school.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the council has agreed to apologise to the family and pay them £5,900 in recognition of the impact on the child’s education.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public. In this case the council has agreed to review its processes to ensure it maintains oversight where it relies on schools to arrange alternative provision and takes timely action when a school does not arrange the provision or the planned provision cannot take place.

Article date: 12 February 2026

Summary of the decision: Someone close to a woman referred to as NN in the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report contacted the police to express concern that NN was being subjected to violence by her boyfriend. NN had suffered a black eye and said that, among other things, her boyfriend had kicked her and pulled her hair, since when it had not been possible to reach her.

A police operator passed on the information to a police patrol, which was dispatched to NN’s home. On arrival at NN’s home, NN told the patrol that she was fine and that the injury to her face had been inflicted by her child. A police report was not filed until the following morning, when a duty investigating officer reviewed the incident report from the previous evening.

Assault is an offence that falls under public prosecution. If a police officer becomes aware of such an offence, she or he has a duty to report the matter, which is usually done by filing a police report. In the opinion of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the information passed on to the patrol by the operator was in itself grounds to file a police report.

Meanwhile, the patrol was dispatched to NN’s home to check on her wellbeing and whether she required assistance. Given the situation, it is acceptable that this was prioritised over filing a police report. However, according to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, a report should have been filed immediately after the officers visited NN. The fact that NN herself did not wish to report the matter to the police – something that is not uncommon when an offence is committed in a close relationship – is irrelevant in this context.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman emphasises the importance of filing a police report without undue delay. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the delay in this case could have made a decision on whether to initiate a preliminary investigation more difficult and delayed appropriate investigative measures. The Parliamentary Ombudsman takes a grave view of this and criticises the Swedish Police Authority for the delay in filing a police report.

Il Coordinamento Nazionale dei Difensori Civici delle Regioni e delle Province Autonome Italiane accoglie con grande soddisfazione la comunicazione pervenuta dal Difensore Civico della Regione Abruzzo, Avv. Umberto Di Primio, relativa al forte riscontro che la campagna di sensibilizzazione sociale “Posto Occupato” sta registrando sul territorio regionale.

L’iniziativa, promossa nell’ambito delle attività del Coordinamento Nazionale e condivisa dai Difensori civici regionali, continua a raccogliere adesioni significative da parte di istituzioni, enti locali, università, società partecipate e del sistema scolastico. Tra queste, anche l’Ufficio Scolastico Regionale ha formalizzato la propria partecipazione, contribuendo ad ampliare il valore educativo e culturale del progetto.

Il Difensore Civico della Regione Sardegna, Avv. Marco Enrico, artefice e promotore della diffusione dell’iniziativa, dichiara:
“È fondamentale che le campagne di sensibilizzazione come ‘Posto Occupato’ trovino radici in tutte le comunità. La risposta positiva delle istituzioni abruzzesi dimostra quanto sia importante il lavoro congiunto tra enti locali e difensori civici per educare e proteggere i cittadini, in particolare contro la violenza di genere.”

Il Presidente del Coordinamento Nazionale, Marino Fardelli, esprime vivo apprezzamento per il lavoro svolto sul territorio e per la sensibilità dimostrata dalle amministrazioni e dagli enti che hanno aderito all’iniziativa, sottolineando come la collaborazione tra Difensori civici regionali rappresenti uno strumento fondamentale per dare voce ai diritti e promuovere azioni concrete di prevenzione e sensibilizzazione.

La crescente partecipazione registrata in Abruzzo rappresenta un segnale importante: la difesa civica, attraverso il coordinamento tra le Regioni, continua a svolgere un ruolo di impulso culturale e istituzionale sui temi della dignità della persona, dell’uguaglianza e della tutela dei diritti fondamentali.

The Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia (Ombudsman) is preparing a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of the Act on Urgent Measures to Ensure Public Safety (the so-called Šutar Act) from the perspective of constitutionality, legality, and compliance with international human rights standards.

Based on the initiatives received and the information obtained, the Ombudsman has particularly serious concerns regarding Article 8. Based on the analysis already carried out, he considers that the aforementioned article disproportionately interferes with the means of basic subsistence, jeopardises the dignity of individuals and their social security, interferes with the rights of children, does not take into account individual circumstances, has retroactive effects and inadequately regulates procedural rights.

The Human Rights Ombudsman, Dr. Simona Drenik Bavdek, at a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities (MDDSZ) on February 10, 2026, at the headquarters of the institution she heads, she already verified whether the measures announced by the ministry could eliminate the potential unconstitutionality, as the ministry announced that the information system of social work centers would be upgraded so that regular cash social assistance would be paid in two installments. In the Ombudsman's opinion, this technical adjustment does not resolve the fundamental constitutional issues, but rather raises even more new ones.

"Since these are issues that raise serious dilemmas regarding the permissibility of interference with the human rights of the most socially vulnerable and given the large number of people already affected and potentially affected, the Ombudsman's office will in the coming days submit a request to the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of Article 8 of the law and propose its temporary suspension, as it is also relevant to the question of whether the current regulation causes harmful consequences that are difficult to remedy," emphasizes Ombudsman Dr. Simona Drenik Bavdek, adding that in this case, a substantive assessment by the Constitutional Court is urgently needed. 
 

El Defensor del Pueblo, Ángel Gabilondo, ha asistido este viernes, en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), al acto de homenaje al expresidente del Tribunal Constitucional y catedrático de Historia del Derecho, Francisco Tomás y Valiente, cuando se cumplen 30 años de su asesinato a manos de ETA.

El acto ha sido organizado por la UAM y ha constado de una exposición, para recordar la figura y el legado de Tomás y Valiente, y una ofrenda floral. En el mismo han participado, entre otros, familiares del homenajeado; los reyes; el ministro del Interior; el presidente del Tribunal Constitucional y varios de sus antecesores en el cargo; la presidenta del Consejo de Estado; el delegado del Gobierno, y la rectora de la UAM.

La exposición `In Memoriam Tomas y Valiente 1996-2026`, inaugurada por los reyes, está dedicada a la trayectoria personal, académica y pública de Tomás y Valiente, y recoge también las reacciones tras su asesinato: los homenajes que se le tributaron y la trascendencia que ha tenido su figura.

La UAM cierra los actos conmemorativo del 30 aniversario del asesinato del catedrático Francisco Tomás y Valiente con el concierto `Música por la Paz´, que se celebrará mañana sábado en el Auditorio Nacional de Música. El concierto correrá a cargo de la Orquesta de Extremadura y contará con la colaboración de cuatro agrupaciones corales de Madrid.