| SPOTLIGHT |
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found Derbyshire County Council at fault for failing to ensure that a child received a full-time education for two years and also for a three-month “period of inaction” in sourcing a placement for the child.
The council has agreed to pay a total of £12,520 to remedy the injustice caused.
Outlining the background to the case, the Ombudsman said the complainant, Miss X, complained that her son, Y, had not been in education since May 2022.
Miss X told the LGSCO that despite the council providing a remedy to acknowledge missed education, it had failed to find a suitable full-time placement for Y that could meet his needs.
Following investigation, the council said it acknowledged that Y had not had access to a full-time education since May 2022, and that Y was currently attending provision for one day a week.
The Ombudsman said: “It acknowledges it has failed to fully consider and fulfil its duties under Section 19 and did not make arrangements to provide suitable full-time education to Y.”
Analysing the council's failure to provide education, the Ombudsman said: “The council says it acknowledges that Y’s lack of access to education during this period stems from the failure of its SEND assessment service to secure suitable educational provision for Y.
“The Council acknowledges that Y’s absence from school prompted it to consider and fulfil its statutory duty.”
The report noted that the council had commissioned a tutoring service for Y which was initially successful, but following the tutor’s resignation, the provision subsequently broke down, and an alternative not put in place for Y, resulting in him only receiving one day per week of provision.
The Ombudsman found this was ‘fault’.
Analysing the council’s failure to source a placement for Y, the Ombudsman said: “Y’s Draft EHCP was issued in March 2023. Following this, the Council issued consultations to five different schools, four which were the preference of Miss X. Unfortunately, these consultations were unsuccessful and could not offer a place to Y.
“The Council acknowledges that after responses to these consultations, there followed a period of inaction by the Council from March 2023 to June 2023, where no further work was undertaken to source a placement for Y. This is fault by the Council.”
To remedy the injustice caused, Derbyshire County Council agreed to:
A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: “We are constantly monitoring and reviewing our SEND services to support the improvements we’re currently making in this area of the council’s work, which remains a priority and are already starting to show positive outcomes.
“This year we’ve invested £1m in the service to improve our EHCP process, including to improve communication with parents and carers, and we’re investing £11m to create an additional 500 special needs school places across Derbyshire as part of our five-year-plan, with more funding on the way to support mainstream inclusion as well as specialist placements, and to offer more day-to-day support to schools to promote inclusion.
“We strive to ensure every child in Derbyshire, whatever their challenge or ability, gets the best possible start in life and our work in this complex and important area of our children’s services continues."
They added: “While we are making good progress, we also acknowledge there are areas where we could do better, such as in this case where the Ombudsman found us at fault, and have apologised to the family affected.
“In cases where complaints are upheld we work closely with families, schools and other agencies to propose a remedy which the Ombudsman and all parties are satisfied with, as we did in this case.”
Lottie Winson
