Council pays out £1,000 to mum over delays in alternative schooling

A council has paid out nearly £1,000 to the mother of a child with special needs after an Ombudsman ruled it had delayed fulfilling its statutory duty of providing alternative education provision. The mother, ‘Ms D’, complained that Trafford council failed to provide her son, E, with full-time education when he stopped attending school.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said the council’s failures caused Ms D 'distress, frustration and upset' and had a 'detrimental impact' on E and the wider family. Their report underlines that local authorities have a duty under the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements for the provision of suitable education for children who, because of illness or other reasons, cannot attend school.

It said that E has special needs and has an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP). He began attending school ‘less regularly’ in the autumn term of 2022 because of his anxiety. It was his last year of primary school.

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Ms D contacted the council in November to say E was struggling to attend school and that she was working part-time hours. The council arranged an annual review of his EHCP in December with the school saying E was suffering from high levels of anxiety.

Ms D emailed the school in February 2023 to say E’s anxiety was getting worse. The council issued E’s final plan and named two schools - the primary school he was attending and then a secondary school from September onwards.

Ms D continued to raise concerns about E’s attendance at school and the council said it needed to hold an emergency annual review so the school could show it could not meet E’s needs before it made a referral for medical