Surrey County Council pays families £250k in children's services failings

Surrey County Council said it had secured an additional £15m in funding to increase capacity and had extended the use of locum and associate educational psychologists

Surrey County Council (SCC) paid more than £250,000 in compensation to families last year over failings in children's services.

An annual report shows payouts in the 2022-23 financial year more than doubled compared to 2021-22.

A third of payments were "symbolic financial remedies" to recognise the impact of failings.

SCC apologised for the "distress" families had experienced and said it was "working hard" to reduce backlogs.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which decides on some settlements, also upheld three more complaints about the authority last week.

It found SCC continued to miss deadlines for children waiting for psychological assessments and GP advice.

The latest rulings meant the council had to pay out a further £1,700 to families.

Families can be compensated when the council is found to be at fault following a complaint.

A 2022-23 annual complaints report, published by the council, said there had been a "significant increase" in both the number of complaints attracting a financial remedy and the total amount paid.

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The total paid in the last financial year was £258,730.53, compared with £92,698.02 in 2021-22.

Of the payments, £87,455 was paid in financial remedies to recognise the impact of the fault, for example "distress and anxiety and time and trouble taken in pursuing the complaint", the council said.

The remaining cash was used to compensate missed education and support.

Clare Curran, SCC's cabinet member for children, families and lifelong learning, said the council took findings from the ombudsman "very seriously and apologise[d] for the distress these families experienced".

"Despite national pressures, we regret all delays and are working hard to reduce any backlogs, and ultimately to reduce spend on fines, which we know is higher than it should be," Ms Curran added.

"We have seen a 64 per cent increase in education, health and care needs assessment requests across Surrey since 2020, at a time of a national shortage of educational psychologists," the councillor added.

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