Council to pay £6,300 after boy missed a year's education

The LGO concluded the boy missed a year's education

A council will pay more than £6,000 in compensation after an autistic boy did not receive appropriate education for a year.

Oxfordshire County Council was told by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) to pay the money after his mother complained about the way his case was handled.

The LGO concluded the boy, who was of primary school age, lost out on education and specialist provision he should have received between February 2022 and February 2023.

The council said in March that it was making progress after a damning report into special needs provision was published last September.

The boy’s mother said the way the authority handled the case caused her and her family “distress and uncertainty”.

She said she tried to contact a council officer to discuss her son’s case but that they did not respond to phone calls and emails.

The LGO told the council to pay £6,000 for the lost education and provision and another £300 in recognition of the distress and uncertainty caused.

In March, the authority and other partners said they were making improvements after a negative report from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission into its special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision last September.

"We are working together as a partnership to review, reset and rebuild services listening to what matters most to children, young people with SEND and their families," its cabinet member for SEND, Kate Gregory, said.