Council left autistic boy without support for more than two years, ombudsman finds

A report by ombudsman Michael King reveals that Redbridge Council failed to provide any academic support for the child, who has autism and a severe form of epilepsy, for an entire year after it deemed him “medically unfit” to start secondary school.

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The boy remained without education for the entire year due to the council’s failure to assess him for it’s home-tuition programme, King states.

He also missed out on any special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support during this time, the report adds, despite a statement of SEN stating he needed speech and language therapy (SALT), occupational therapy and physiotherapy.

When the boy returned to school, his mother queried what SEND provision her son was receiving at school. 

A breakdown provided by the school showed no evidence he was receiving either his occupational therapy or SALT provision, King states, adding that this forced his mother to start to pay for a weekly physiotherapy session with a different provider.

Meanwhile, the council delayed transferring his statement to an education, health and care plan (EHCP) for 27 weeks, despite being legally obliged to do so by 1 April 2018 using the “transfer review” process.

The boy’s “transfer review” meeting was held in July 2017, King finds, meaning his EHCP should have been complete by November 2017, however, his mother did not receive the final plan until May 2018.

“[This] meant the council missed out on the chance to meet the boy's needs and identify and implement alternative provision,” the report states.

Overall, due to the lack of provision provided when he returned to school and the delay in creating his final EHCP, the boy missed out on 16 months' SEND provision after returning to school.

This was on top of the 12 months he missed while out of school, King states.

The ombudsman has ordered the council to apologise to the boy and his family and pay £4,000 for his lost education and SEND provision for the 2015/16 school year as well as £2,400 to cover the cost of physiotherapy sessions arranged by this mother and £3,400 for the boy’s lost SEND provision and distress caused to his family.

Redbridge has also been advised to complete an audit of all the children that receive SEND support at the boy’s school, to ensure this provision is being met. 

“If it finds that it is not, it should put an action plan in place to address this. Those affected should also be told about the council’s complaints procedure,” the report states.

King said: “Councils have a duty to meet the special educational provisions laid out in statements and EHC Plans, but in this case the boy missed out on the therapies and support he needed for 16 months, and his mother felt forced to pay for services the council should have ensured were provided.

“I now urge Redbridge council to take on board the recommendations in my report and consider how they might implement them to improve services for children with SEN in the borough."