Derbyshire boy missed school year after council blunder

The council said it had learnt lessons and also put in place improvements in the system

A boy who had to stay in primary school for an extra year has received an apology and compensation.

The child, from Derbyshire - known only as Z - has special educational needs but the county council failed to find him a secondary school place.

An ombudsman's report found an assessment of Z's needs took more than a year to complete.

The council, which agreed to pay £1,000 to the family, said it had learnt lessons and improved its systems.

Long delays

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) said the boy, who has physical and mental health conditions, had been due to leave primary school in 2019.

However an LGSCO report found this was delayed by a year as the county council did not update his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan in time despite results of his school's review of his needs being sent to the authority in July 2018.

Additionally the council failed to name a school for Z to go to, despite his mother expressing a clear preference.

This meant Z had to stay at his primary school with special tutoring, which his mother said "felt like he had been forgotten and this led to distress and upset".

'Vital interaction'

The LGSCO also criticised the council's handling of an initial complaint by Z's mother, which was beset by delays at the first stage.

The council's own investigation of the complaint failed to identify the full extent of where it had gone wrong, it said.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: "Although the boy did not miss out on any education because of the council's errors, he did miss out on vital social interaction with children his own age.

"This will have had a knock-on effect on entering his new school in Year 8, where children will have already formed friendship groups."

A council spokesperson said: "The council has accepted the LGSCO's recommendations in relation to this case, we have apologised to the family, we have learnt lessons and put in place improvements to the way we support families with children's Education, Health and Care Plans."