Barnsley Council fined for failing to find adequate school for autistic girl

Following the ruling, Barnsley Council agreed to keep a "tighter monitoring of provision" for pupils

A South Yorkshire council has been fined after it failed to find an adequate school for a girl with autism.

The youngster had been permanently excluded from her school in Barnsley in May 2022, but by October the council had not found a suitable alternative.

After the issue was escalated to the ombudsman, it was found Barnsley Council was "at fault".

The authority was ordered to pay £1,500 for the child's education and £300 to her mother for the "distress" caused.

The council also agreed to a "tighter monitoring of provision" for pupils.

An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found that following the girl's exclusion from her original school, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council had agreed to look into alternatives for her.

The authority consulted various schools to find one that could meet the youngster's needs, but the child's mother said that by September 2022 a resolution had still not been found.

In October that year, the council responded to the mother's complaint and told her the child's previous school "could meet her needs" and was satisfied that her provision was being met.

Barnsley Council was fined £1,500 for the child's education and £300 to her mother for the "distress" caused

But following an escalation of the complaint, the council said it had obtained evidence to show the youngster's provision was in place and apologised that it had not investigated whether it was provided day-to-day.

However, the child's mother remained dissatisfied and also said her daughter's previous suspensions could have been avoided if she had been given suitable provision.

She complained to the ombudsman, who ruled that Barnsley Council was "at fault" for "failing to provide" the child with alternative education.

The ombudsman did not find fault with the council for failing to deliver the provision while the youngster was at school and said the council had accepted the recommendations made.

The authority was ordered to pay £1,500 for the child's education and an additional £300 to her mother for the "distress" caused, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The ombudsman's findings also stated that the council had agreed to set out a plan to implement tighter monitoring of provision for individual pupils by 27 January.

A spokesperson for Barnsley Council said it was unable to comment on individual cases regarding children.

However, it add that the authority "takes the learning from all Local Government Ombudsman inquiries seriously and the learning from this case has been applied in practice".