Calderdale Council pays almost £5,000 to family over issues relating to child’s education

The Ombudsman for Local Government and Social Care found fault in Calderdale Council’s actions which caused “avoidable distress”.

Referred to as Mr and Mrs X in the Ombudsman’s report, they had complained the council took too long to act when they advised it they could no longer home educate their child, referred to as Y in the report.

The Ombudsman found the council at fault for delays in consulting with schools, delay in issuing Y’s final Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan, failing to provide Y with the provision in his EHC Plan when Mrs X had advised it she could no longer home educate him, and failing to provide a timely response to Mrs X’s complaint and her concerns.

The faults resulted in Y missing out on a school place at the start of a school year and the situation had impacted upon Y’s education and development and caused avoidable distress to Mr and Mrs X, found the Ombudsman.

The council agreed to provide a remedy payment to acknowledge the injustice caused.

The Ombudsman said the council agreed to apologise in writing to Mr and Mrs X for the identified faults.

It also agreed to pay Mrs X a symbolic payment of £350 in acknowledgement of the frustration and uncertainty caused by the 13-week delay in issuing Y’s final EHC Plan and also £500 for avoidable distress caused by delaying in consulting with settings.

The council also agreed to pay Mrs X £3,600 for the loss of education provision over a six and a half month period and £500 for the avoidable distress caused by failing to respond to her complaint, failing to provide her with information she requested regarding respite in a timely manner and failing to respond to her repeated requests for updates, reported the Ombudsman.

Calderdale also agreed to complete a review of Y’s education, ensuring that all provision in Y’s EHC Plan is being met and to take necessary steps to satisfy itself that Y is receiving a suitable education.

Mr and Mrs X had also complained the council failed to provide support when made aware they were struggling to home educate their child, failed to provide him with a suitable education when they had advised it they were no longer able to home educate him, and to respond to their concerns, including a formal complaint they had made.

Normally, the Ombudsman cannot investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal to a tribunal about the same matter but may decide to investigate if they consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use that right.