Suffolk mum given £1,500 for daughter's missed education

Suffolk County Council has been warned it must improve provision for children who are unable to attend school

A council has apologised to a mother and given her £1,500 after her daughter had no education for six months.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) said the girl, from Suffolk, could not go to her school and should have got alternative provision.

There had been "numerous decisions about Suffolk County Council's poor performance" in similar cases, it said.

The authority said an advisor would help reform its special educational needs and disabilities services.

A report from the LGSCO said the mother of the young girl complained her daughter was not provided with suitable alternative education after she became too anxious to attend primary school.

The ombudsman said it was the council's duty to put in place alternative education once it became clear a child would be away from a school for 15 days or more.

It said because the council did not have a way to check attendance, which was its responsibility, it relied on the school making a referral.

The authority "missed numerous opportunities to intervene, assess the girl's needs and provide her with a suitable education", the report said.

Ombudsman Michael King said he was "disappointed to have to again highlight our concerns about the council's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) service, having made many previous recommendations for improvement in the past 18 months".

The council has been warned it must make improvements "as a priority" in similar cases.

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Suffolk County Council said consultant Anthony Douglas, chair of Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership, would help with reforms to the authority's SEND services.

Rachel Hood, cabinet member for education, SEND and skills at Suffolk County Council, said there had been improvements.

"However, we also recognise that there are some areas, especially those lived experiences of families, where improvement is not being clearly felt," she added.