Somerset Council fined over speech therapy failure

The council were ordered to pay £2,550 to Mrs X to "reflect the impact of the lost provision" on her son

A council has been fined more than £2,500 after failing to provide a vulnerable child with speech therapy.

Somerset County Council provided the Year 7 pupil, known as W, with an education and health care plan (EHCP) in 2021 that included both occupational and speech and language therapy.

However, left without either service for an entire school year, W's mother made a formal complaint to the council.

Somerset Council has apologised for delays in putting provisions in place.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) ordered the new unitary authority to formally apologise and compensate the family.

'Began to experience problems'

Known only as Mrs X, W's mother, said she began to experience problems in November 2021, when her son moved to a new school.

W was issued an amended EHCP by the county council in December 2021, which included provision for six hours per term of speech and language therapy from a therapist "experienced in working with children with complex needs".

It also included three programmes of occupational therapy to improve the child's "coordination, balance, fine motor skills and handwriting".

However, contacting the council in late-January 2022 to express concern that neither therapy had begun, Mrs X formally complained in March 2022, having received no response in the interim.

The ombudsman stated that the council was "wrong" in its approach and the council had the "the legal duty to ensure the provision is arranged"

The council finally responded in late May 2022, stating it was the school's responsibility to arrange the therapy provision and the council-run services had "no availability".

Mrs X then identified a number of third parties who could provide the services for her son but the council said the school needed to contact the providers directly and it was "not for the council to commission providers itself or recommend suitable ones".

W eventually started to receive speech therapy in November 2022 after funding to use third party services was approved, but as of January 2023, he had still not received occupational therapy.

In his ruling, the ombudsman stated the council was "wrong" in its approach, the council had the "the legal duty to ensure the provision is arranged" and it must act "promptly" when becoming aware of missing care provisions.

Somerset Council has been ordered to pay £2,550 to Mrs X to "reflect the impact of the lost provision" on her son - with a stipulation the money be used to fund private therapy for W.

It was also told it would be liable to pay £300 for every month it failed to secure occupational therapy for W.

A spokesman said the council "accepts the ruling" and has "apologised to the family for the delays in getting the right provision in place".

It said staff would now check that "where schools have funding for additional provision, the resources are put in place quickly".