Herts Council must pay out £5k for failing to provide education to child excluded from special needs school

HERTFORDSHIRE County Council has been directed to pay out £5,000, for its failure to provide education to a child who had been excluded from a school for children with severe learning difficulties.

The boy – who has developmental delay, cognitive impairment and behavioural problems – was permanently excluded from his school in October 2021.

Although he received personal tutoring from the beginning of November, this was withdrawn by the provider in the following May – after an ‘incident’ between the child and the tutor.

And a new provider was not found until January (2023).

Meanwhile the boy’s mother had sent the county council a list of schools that she wanted to be considered as potential places for her son.

In June 2022 she complained that the special educational needs service had been unacceptable and that he council had not responded to her request for the boy’s needs to be reassessed.

And she suggested that remaining at home all the time was affecting the boy’s mental health.

In autumn 2022 the county council contacted 24 special schools – in and out of Hertfordshire – but no school offered a place.

In his report the Ombudsman said that the council was ‘at fault ‘ for is failure to provide education between June 2022 and the end of December 2022 – recommending that they payout £3000.

He also directed then to pay the mother £300 in recognition of the uncertainty caused by the council’s delay in considering her request for re-assessment of the child’s needs – and a further £1200 to recognise the ‘injustice’ caused by missed annual reviews.

He also directed that the council should pay £500 to recognise the distress caused by the council’s own failings within its complaints process and to communicate with her effective;y.

In response to the Ombusdsman’s findings, a spokesperson for the county council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they apologised to the family.

And he pointed to the increase in the number of children who may require special educational needs support.

“We take the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s findings very seriously,” he said.

“And where they find we have been at fault, we work hard to understand why that has happened, how we can put it right and how we can prevent it happening again.

“We would like to apologise to the family involved in this case.

“We are committed to working in partnership with young people, parents, carers and schools to ensure that all children with SEND and EHCPs in Hertfordshire receive the support they need and deserve.

“The number of children being identified who may require SEND support continues to increase, raising challenges both nationally and here in Hertfordshire.

“In common with many local authorities, we are experiencing an unprecedented increase in requests for specialist provision, with a 47 per cent increase in pupils with Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs) since 2019, as well as the additional challenges due to COVID-19.

“We are making new investments into the SEND system and are fully committed to making sure that all children with SEND and EHCPs in Hertfordshire receive the support they need and deserve.”