Council criticised for failing to support home-schooled child

The LGO said Richmond Council failed to act when the boy's mother requested he be returned to mainstream education, which resulted in him missing two terms of schooling, missing his GCSE exams, and losing an opportunity to go to college.

The teenager had initially been withdrawn from school and home educated following a series of family circumstances that affected his behaviour.

But a year later, his mother asked if he could return to school. The boy was assessed by different parts of the council’s education and social care services, but because of confusion about his education status, the council's education welfare service sent his mother forms about home educating the boy.

The mother did not respond as she had told officers she wanted him to be in school. Over the next few months, a number of meetings were held to discuss what should be done about the boy’s education.

The council agreed to look into a college place for him, and plans were made by the council, including the possibility of attending a variety of part- and full-time courses, but the ombudsman said few of the plans were relayed to the boy’s mother, or acted upon.

The council told the LGO the mother had rejected placements it had offered, but the LGO said there was no evidence of this.

Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said councils have a duty to ensure the educational needs of home-schooled children are met.

“When councils have concerns about a child’s education or, as in this case, are alerted to a family who no longer wish to home school, they have a duty to ensure those educational needs are met," she said.

“In Richmond, we found the departments involved did not communicate properly with each other or the boy’s mother. They agreed to carry out actions to improve the boy’s situation but didn’t take action on them.”

The LGO recommended the council pays £3,650 to the boy's mother towards his education and training, which Richmond Council has agreed to.

Nick Whitfield, director of children’s services for Richmond Council said: “As a local authority, one of our absolute priorities is ensuring all our children and young people have the best education possible.

“In this case, which happened over 13 months ago, it is clear that we did not meet those high standards. We have acknowledged the report from the ombudsman and have already put in place their recommendations.”