A mum was paid £3,000 by a council over 'failures' after her autistic son missed four months of school. The compensation was awarded by an ombudsman, who found there was 'delay and poor communication' by the local authority, reports Manchester Evening News.
A report from a Government and Social Care Ombudsman found that there was a failure by Salford city council under the terms of the Children and Families Act 2014 to provide alternative education for the boy. This came after the authority was aware that he had been out of school for 15 days.
The boy, named 'B', in the report was diagnosed with autism in 2018 and experiences extreme agitation in noisy and busy environments. Due to this, his mother, labelled Mrs X, says that he stopped attending school in December 2020 due to being unable to cope.
The council received a request for a request for a special educational needs (SEN) assessment later that month. The local authority agreed to the assessment but it took until May 2021 until they issued the child's education and health care plan (EHCP).
Salford city council then issued a second EHCP the next month and claimed Mrs X was 'slow to respond to the draft, or to name her preferred school and this caused some delay in the process'.
However, the mother insists that she returned hers and her son's comments on the day she received the first draft. The report read: "Mrs X says the council agreed to specialist provision and she visited various specialist schools."
"Mrs X says the council issued a second draft and she responded promptly, naming a particular school as her preferred choice. Mrs X had to approach a solicitor because of the delay in issuing a final EHC plan.
"The solicitor sent a pre-action protocol letter, threatening judicial review. Three days later, Mrs X says the council issued a final EHC plan.
"She paid £1,500 legal costs. The council issued a final EHC plan on July 30 2021, naming School C."
Mrs X did not accept that this was a suitable placement and she exercised her right of appeal to a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Tribunal. The report continued: "The council accepts that it breached the timescale of 20 weeks to finalise the EHC plan and that this delayed Mrs X's right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal."
"The council has already apologised to Mrs X for this and agrees in principle to make a symbolic payment to recognise the avoidable distress and lost opportunity to appeal sooner. It also accepted in its complaint response of July 2021 that its communication with Mrs X was poor.
"My view is that the delay and poor communication by the council amounts to fault. This caused avoidable frustration and this meant Mrs X's appeal to the SEND Tribunal has been slightly delayed.
"As Mrs X won her appeal, it might have been possible for B to attend his specialist school sooner." Meanwhile, Mrs X argued that she tried hard to get an alternative option because knew that if her child was out of school, the more difficult it would be for him to return.
The report read: He had no interaction with his peers and he became 'very withdrawn'. Mrs X says B is a bright pupil and missed being in education.
"Mrs X says that she had to approach a solicitor because the council was not providing alternative education for B, despite her request for this. The council says that it began to explore alternative provision - although it does not say when - as a way of supporting transition back into B's placement in School C.
"So, the exploring of alternative provision was to enhance the placement at School C rather than to replace it. The council considered it was not required to provide alternative education from March 2021. The council believed that B's support needs could be met in a mainstream school with a detailed EHC plan and additional resources attached to it.
"As from the end of July 2021, the council accepts it had a duty to provide what was detailed in B's final EHC plan. Most of the provision in the EHC plan relied on specialist input from school staff."
The Ombudsman said that in September 2021, the council commissioned two hours per day alternative provision for B from an approved provider (provider D). The council said it was not in the boy's interests to have full-time education, and his attendance up to the October 2021 half-term was only 56 per cent.
The report added: "After the half-term his attendance was less. Mrs X told the council that B's anxiety was preventing him from attending.
"In addition, providers of alternative education were experiencing staff absences due to Covid-19 at this time. Mrs X says the provider D was not an autism specialist unit, so did not have the expertise to deal with B.
"It offered only two hours of interaction each day and B was very keen to have contact with his peers."
The Ombudsman ordered Salford city council to apologise and make a 'symbolic payment' of £350 to Mrs X for the injustice caused by the faults identified in the EHCP delay. The council was further ordered to pay Mrs X £2,400 for B's four months missed education to be used for his educational benefit and a further £300 'symbolic payment'.
The Ombudsman added: "The council's policy does not set out a timeframe by which it expects Children and Families Act decisions to be made. This means that cases of children being out of education can easily drift.
"The council will consider adding a timetable to its policy for these decisions to be made."
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