Council fined £4.7k for missed school support

Cambridgeshire County Council says demand for SEND services is increasing at an "unprecedented rate" and it is working to improve provision

A council must pay £4,700 to a to a mother after her child missed months of education during a "critical stage" of their schooling.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman upheld a complaint finding Cambridgeshire County Council failed to provide suitable education when the child was out of school.

It was ordered to pay compensation for the missed education, "avoidable distress", and delays in carrying out an education, health and rare (EHC) needs assessment.

The county council said it had apologised to the family and had now complied with all of the ombudsman's recommendations.

According to the ombudsman's report, the child referred to as Y, started secondary school in September 2023 but stopped attending by November due to severe emotional distress.

Y's mother, Ms X, said the school made some adjustments, but her child was unable to physically cope with going and she requested an EHC assessment in January 2024.

The council agreed to assess the child in March, but Ms X said she had not received any updates and complained in May.

The authority blamed a national shortage of educational psychologists for the delay and later admitted the child was entitled to alternative education from 14 December 2023 and upheld the complaints.

The youngster was offered support and assessed in September 2024, but in December the council decided not to issue an EHC Plan, a decision Ms X was appealing.

The ombudsman found the council took seven months to communicate its decision on an EHC Plan, instead of the required 16 weeks, delaying the right to appeal.

It also failed to provide education during this time, despite the child being in Year Seven a "critical stage of their education".

The council was ordered to apologise and pay £700 for the distress caused by the delay and £4,000 for the missed education.

The ombudsman said the council had already committed to service improvements following another complaint and said it was appropriate to give time for the changes to take effect.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire County Council said the authority had apologised to the family and complied with the recommendations.

It added demand for SEND services was increasing at an "unprecedented rate" and the council was working to improve its provision.

The spokesperson said the council was awaiting national reforms to the SEND system, which they hoped would address wider policy and funding challenges.