| SPOTLIGHT |
A Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report has revealed that Hertfordshire County Council offered inadequate support to a young boy and his family after a primary school admitted it had discriminated against him because of his disabilities.
Hertfordshire has now agreed to the Ombudsman's recommendations after an initial delay in acknowledging the report’s findings.
The Ombudsman was asked to investigate by the boy’s parents after the council failed to recognise there had been a problem with the support it provided.
The boy was due to start Reception in September 2020. But on his first day the school told his parents they would have to collect him at 11am because it had not put in place the support he needed according to his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
The young boy was entitled to one-on-one support, including specialist speech and language therapy and this could only take place if he attended school full-time. Instead, he was offered a part-time timetable that meant he received about half the hours he should have received.
The primary school then expelled the boy because of his behaviour which was linked to his unsupported needs, the Ombudsman said. The boy’s parents asked the council to provide tutoring at home.
The Ombudsman found Herfordshire took too long to put this in place and did not provide enough hours for a full-time education. The boy did not have full-time education for the whole of his reception year, receiving about half of the hours he could have expected.
The report concluded that when it became apparent the school was not providing a full-time education for the boy, the council should have investigated why the school could not make all the provision in his EHC plan and found a way to secure this, either in school or elsewhere.
Hertfordshire instead told the family their son was only entitled to 15 hours of education and failed to ensure the boy’s Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy was provided.
The Ombudsman found the council continually failed to ensure the boy was provided with the equivalent of full-time education even after the boy reached compulsory school age the following term. Instead, it wrongly continued to suggest the reduced timetable was the family’s choice.
The report also criticised the way the council handled the family’s complaints and found fault with council’s inaccurate responses both to the family and to the Ombudsman.
Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “The school has already admitted that this little boy was treated differently to his classmates purely because of his disability.
“The parents have told me that because of the council’s failings they have had to take time away from work when their son should have been in school. This has had a significant impact on their daily lives and placed their employment at risk. They have had to pay for support which should have been provided by the council.
“I am disappointed the council has not yet agreed to my recommendations to put things right for the family. I hope they will take a serious look at the service they have offered and make the improvements I have recommended to help prevent others being affected by its poor practice”
Since the release of the report on 6 October, the county council has accepted the Ombudsman’s findings and has announced it will be acting upon the recommendations.
A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: “We take the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s findings very seriously and fully accept and will be acting upon all of its recommendations.
“Hertfordshire County Council apologises to this family for the frustration, distress and educational disruption caused by our failure to secure the provision outlined in this young person’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and will be fully compensating the family according to the Ombudsman’s recommendations. The departments involved will also be embedding these recommendations within our working practices to ensure that all children with SEND and EHCPs in Hertfordshire receive the support they need and deserve. We know how important this is to our families - we share their vision and are working hard to ensure that every child can achieve their potential in all areas of life."
The spokesperson added: “While this in no way excuses our failure to provide adequate EHCP provision in this case, the county council has experienced an unprecedented level of demand for specialist SEND provision during recent years. In 2021, Hertfordshire was the sixth largest local authority EHCP population in the country, having experienced a 47 per cent increase in pupils with EHCP since 2019. The annual rate of growth of EHCPs in Hertfordshire is 15%, which is faster than our statistical and national comparators. In addition, the impact of Covid on our children’s lives has been significant and has generated both short and long-term demand.
“In January of this year there were 9422 children and young people with EHCPs in Hertfordshire. This rise in demand is putting increased pressure on our SEND services across education, health and social care, impacting on service performance, and the families’ and young people’s experiences. In recognition of this, we have been working extremely hard to identify how best to meet the increasing needs of our children and young people, and ensure we have the best provision to meet those needs.
“This has included significantly increasing our investment into SEND funding in mainstream schools across the county from £9.5m to £17.5m this year. Our Special School Place Planning Strategy 2020-23 sets out our commitment and investment to create over 300 new permanent special school places, and the development of a countywide pattern of specialist resource provision in mainstream schools. Our statutory SEND restructure and recent investment will increase capacity of the service by 25% when fully established by September 2022.
“We will continue to work hard with families to make sure that their children’s needs are met and that they are happy with the support received.”
Lottie Winson
