SEND delay 'horrible' for boy, 11

Harrison was supposed to start secondary school in September 2024

An 11-year-old boy has missed out on six months of school and about three weeks of home tutoring because a council failed to find him a place and then forgot to pay his tutor.

Slough Borough Council wanted to place Harrison, who has autism and anxiety, in a mainstream secondary school but a special educational needs tribunal ruled he should be in a specialist high school.

His mother, Jaime, said her son had missed out on making new friends as a result of the ordeal.

A council spokesperson said the authority was making "every effort to place Harrison in an appropriate educational setting as soon as possible".

Harrison was due to start secondary school in September 2024 but the council was unable to find him a place at a school for children with special educational needs.

Jaime had a preferred school for her son but it would have charged £30,000 for a 12-week trial placement - something the council said it could not justify.

The council said it was "actively engaging" with other schools and, in the meantime, it was supposed to pay for Harrison to be tutored at home.

But he missed out on three weeks of this because of two late payments by the council – and Jaime said she had to repeatedly chase the council for updates before eventually complaining.

Harrison was supposed to have at-home tutoring in the meantime

Jaime said: "He had it in his head that he was going to secondary school but it's just not happened.

"It's really had an impact on him not having friends.

"As it is, he can't go out on his own but he's also not getting the social aspect of people at school, so he's like a hermit at the moment - it's horrible."

She added: "The people who are supposed to be helping and supporting Harrison are just failing him, it's like they just don't care."

The council said it was experiencing staffing challenges that led to delays in communication, and acknowledged it had fallen short of "the standard families should be able to expect".

The council added it had recruited additional staff and ensured a case officer was in charge of tracking tuition fee payments.