Family gets £13K after child misses years of school

The child stopped attending a mainstream school due to anxiety

A family has been awarded almost £13,000 from a council after a child with special needs missed more than three years of education.

The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) decided North Northamptonshire Council caused "avoidable distress" and "injustice" by not providing suitable teaching.

The pupil's mother told the Ombudsman that the child had become isolated and suffered significant anxiety.

The council said it accepted the LGO report and apologised to the family.

The LGO found that the child, known as "D", started a mainstream secondary school in September 2020, but stopped attending before the end of the year because of anxiety.

As schools were closed due to the Covid pandemic, D was offered online learning and a part-time schedule of classes.

During the next academic year, when D should have been in year eight, they did not attend school at all.

The council agreed in June 2022 that the mainstream school was not suitable and it said it would find another option, but no new placement had been arranged a year later.

The Ombudsman found a new school should have been named within 12 weeks.

When the LGO started investigating in 2024, they discovered the council's reassessment of D's needs had still not been completed and D remained out of school with just two hours of home tuition a day - and no targeted support.

The child was offered part-time online tuition during the Covid pandemic

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Ombudsman decided the council should provide a remedy of £2,000 per term for the three terms of education and SEN support D missed in year nine - and £1,800 per term for the three missed terms in year 10.

The Ombudsman said the family should also be paid £1,400 to recognise the "avoidable distress" caused to the mother and child and the "avoidable time and trouble" spent pursuing the complaint.

In total, NNC paid £12,800 to the family.

The council leader, Jason Smithers, apologised to the family for its failings

Jason Smithers, leader of NNC, said the authority "wholly accepts" the findings and recommendations and it extended its sincerest apologies for the failings in "what must have been an extremely stressful and difficult time".

He added: "As a local authority, we are in the process of making long-term sustainable changes within the education, health and care team."

Mr Smithers said the council was continuing to work with the family to ensure that the child received appropriate education.