Northamptonshire councils pay out more than £10k over SEND failures
Both Northamptonshire councils have had to pay out more than £10,000 between them in compensation following problems with their educational provision for children with specialist needs.
The complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) involved delays in issuing education health and care plans (EHCPs), which led to failures in securing alternative provision for the young pupils who were faced with permanent exclusions from their mainstream schools.
In the North of the county, the parents of a child with special educational needs have been paid £7,700 to compensate them for their son's year of missed education.
School records indicated the young boy struggled to cope in mainstream school and reported incidents of him being aggressive to staff and children. The LGSCO reported that the pupil was later excluded from his primary school in July 2022.
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After receiving a final EHC plan, his parents said they were interested in home-educating him from September as they were reportedly worried he would be at risk of permanent exclusion after experiencing this at two other schools.
North Northants Council (NNC) did not confirm a home education plan for the primary school pupil after this. The Ombudsman said that when the authority was made aware the parents had changed their minds on home education shortly after, the council did not provide any alternative provision or secure special educational provision.
As a result, the LGSCO reported the child received no education at all between September 2022 and July 2023.
The local government watchdog said the council had no evidence of any consultations with potential schools until January 2023. It said this delay caused "avoidable distress, confusion and uncertainty and a loss of a chance to secure a placement for [the child] sooner".
Another four months passed before NNC wrote to the mother saying a school had offered a place to her son, starting in September that year. The mum complained to the council over its poor communication, delays in offering a school place and confusion over their temporary request for home education.
The Ombudsman ordered NNC to apologise for the "avoidable distress and inconvenience caused" and make a payment of £7,700 to reflect the loss of three terms of special educational provision the boy should have received.
It has also told the authority it must review its procedures to ensure that cases do not get lost between the home education and Education Health and Care teams.
North Northants Council has been contacted for comment.
In West Northants, another family has been awarded £3,300 by the authority as a result of special educational needs failures for their son.
The Ombudsman reported that the child has 'complex needs' and faced problems regulating his behaviour at school, leading to regular exclusions.
At the end of November 2022, the child's school held an emergency annual review as it said it could not meet his needs and that he was still having 'violent outbursts' despite the high level of support given. It suggested he was at risk of permanent exclusion and concluded that he needed specialist provision.
The school sent its annual review paperwork to West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) in December 2022. The LGSCO reported that the school started funding alternative provision sessions for the pupil itself in January, but went back to the council to warn that the situation was "at crisis point".
The Council sent the mother a draft EHC plan in April 2023, but it refused her request for an Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) package and started consulting with other schools. Her son stopped attending his school completely at the end of April following a fixed-term exclusion- the Ombudsman report noted that the mum and the school notified the council of this at the time.
A final EHC plan was not issued until July (it should have been completed in February 2023) which identified a local mainstream school and included weekly occupational therapy sessions to begin at the start of the next school year.
The Ombudsman concluded that WNC was aware that the boy was not attending school and should have put in place alternative provision by May 22, 2023 (after 15 days of absence). It said its failure to do so until the end of September 2023 was 'fault'.
It recommended that the council apologises to the family and pays them £3,300 for the months of lost provision and the 'distress and uncertainty' caused.
Cllr Fiona Baker, Cabinet Member for Children Families, Education and Skills said: "We have accepted the Local Government Ombudsman’s (LGO) findings regarding the delay in issuing an amended Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan and securing alternative education provision.
"We have apologised to the family for the impact this delay has had, and we are committed to learning from this case. The well-being and education of children in West Northamptonshire are our highest priorities, and we are taking proactive measures to improve our service delivery in this area."