Derbyshire council pays thousands of pounds to families of children with special educational needs it failed to support

A flurry of new cases from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has seen it order Derbyshire County Council to pay £7,900 to families it has failed to sufficiently support.

There is now a regular flow of cases involving the county council’s shortfalls in this area, with recommendations for improvements and commitments to do so provided each time in a repeating cycle.

The council has more than 6,000 Education, Health and Care plans, which are legal documents for children with special educational needs, outlining what support they require and how it will be provided.

Failures identified by the LGO on a regular basis relate to shortfalls in managing these documents, with the issue also proving to be a national concern.

The three most recent cases from the council watchdog detail payouts of £3,500, £3,000 and £1,400 respectively.

In the first case a child went without sufficient support for two school terms, January 2023 until July 2023, including specific therapies mandated within their EHC plan. The council took 17 weeks to review the child’s EHC plan instead of the required 12 weeks while the authority took an additional 13 weeks beyond the required timeframe to produce a final EHC plan.

A decision notice from the watchdog details the council should apologise to the family for the “injustice, uncertainty and frustration” caused.

The LGO said council staff should be “reminded” to commission specialist interventions as early as possible to avoid a gap in provision and also to remind them to stick to the relevant timescales for producing draft and final EHC plans. It told the council to pay a total of £3,500 to the affected family.

A second case details a child who waited eight months longer than they should have for an EHC plan, taking 56 weeks – more than a year – to process one instead of 20 weeks. Their request for a plan was submitted in June 2022 and due by October 2022 but it was not finalised until July 2023.

The child, who has been diagnosed on the autism spectrum and has anxiety, sensory difficulties, hyperactivity and other complex needs, went without all special educational provision within his EHC plan as a result for a total of eight months – two school terms. In response, the council had offered £250 to the child’s family as a result of the time and trouble of chasing the issue.

However, the LGO said that due to the severity of the shortfalls and impact on the child this should total £3,000 and the council should apologise to the family.

A third case saw a child out of full-time education entirely for two months – January and February 2023. It should have issued a final EHC plan by August 2022 but did not provide one until February 2023 – six months longer than required to a total of 25 weeks beyond the 20 required. The council was aware the child was not receiving full-time education but did not make any enquiries about their medical needs or for any alternative provision during those two months.

The authourity has been asked for comment on its SEND services.