AN autistic boy has missed out on 13 weeks of school after education chiefs struggled to find him a place, his mum claims.

Michael Bond, six, returned to East Lancashire from Scotland with mum Sarah Clarkson during the Easter holidays in April.

The youngster has autism, global development delay, a debilitating hearing disorder, and other issues which impact his speech and ability to socialise.

Miss Clarkson, who returned to her mum's home in Barnoldswick after fleeing an abusive relationship, has given up on her son getting a place this year but is hopeful Lancashire County Council will be able to provide a tutor during the summer holidays.

The 30-year-old, who also has an 11-month-old son Daniel, said she first tried to make contact with the council's education authority on April 18 but it did not receive her emails and a change of area form she sent through the post.

She said when she got a response she was told there are no school places available. Now weeks later she has been told they are still trying to find somewhere for him.

She said: "I spoke to another mum who had problems finding a place and she ending up getting provision through tutoring.

"I feel like they are not helping him. He is entitled to an education.

"Supposedly every child is entitled to an education but it feels like nothing is being done about it."

Michael, who did go to Pendle View Primary School in 2015 before moving to Scotland, was in full-time education in Edinburgh where he would spend some time in mainstream classes and others in a language unit which has extra support.

Miss Clarkson said: "It has been terrible in terms of his behaviour. It has not helped that we have not got a home sorted or the reason why we have had to move back to Lancashire.

"He has moved from a different country and there's no school, consistency or routine.

"I thought if he had a school there would at least be some routine.

"It is so important for him. His behaviour can be violent, he gets angry, frustrated and he lashes out but having that routine would help improve that.

"I know that it will not happen before September now but I was hoping we could get a tutor over the summer holidays otherwise that will be 19 weeks of school he has missed.

"Just to have one or two hours of learning would help get him back into it.

"Missing out on that amount of education is awful.

"If I kept him off school for that amount of time I would have been in a lot of trouble. I would get fined but the council will not."

Miss Clarkson said she would prefer a special educational needs school but would be willing for him to go to a mainstream school with additional support until they found a place.

Brendan Lee, the council's head of the special educational needs and disability service, said: "Whilst I cannot comment in detail on individual cases we work very hard to ensure that young people who move into the area receive the education that they need as soon as possible.

"That is not always straightforward as young people can have very specific needs and there are a finite number of suitable places available.

"There is an established process in place to find an appropriate school and that is still ongoing in this case."

Legally, local education authorities have to find a free school place for children who are of compulsory school age. If they can't be educated at school the authority has a duty to provide suitable education in some other way.

As reported, thousands of parents across Lancashire have been issued with penalty fines for taking their children out of school during term-time.