Essex Council to pay families over SEND faults

A council has agreed to make payments to four families in Essex after faults were found in care provided for children with special educational needs.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman upheld five complaints against Essex County Council.

Payments ranged from £250 and £600 for the "continued injustice" families experienced.

The council said it "acknowledged and accepted the findings".

The five complaints were regarding Essex County Council's handling of provisions for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

The complaints against the council ranged from its failure to implement Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans effectively and delays in assessing children entitled to receive specialist support or seeing EHC plans through to completion.

The ombudsman (LGSCO) said the council's delay when responding to complaints had caused "distress, frustration and uncertainty" in each of the five cases.

The council said there was a national shortage when trying to find specialist staff to carry out its duties and fulfil provisions.

However, LGSCO still found the authority to be at fault.

In the cases upheld by the LGSCO, complaints made were subject to "significant delays", with wait times for responses often reaching double that of Essex County Council's standard deadlines, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

In December 2022, the school attended by the son of a complainant referred to as Mrs X had first approached the council in order to have her son, Y, assessed for an EHC plan.

In line with statutory guidance the council should have issued Y's final EHC plan by late April 2023, but did not do so until mid-October.

The ombudsman said: "This fault caused Mrs X an injustice. It not only delayed her right to appeal the school but left her with avoidable uncertainty, over a long period, about what school her son might go to."The delays and uncertainty have also left her with avoidable distress and concern about the impact this has had on Y's development and social mixing."

A spokesperson for Essex County Council said: "It would be inappropriate to comment on individual cases, however, we have acknowledged and accepted the findings of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman in these cases and the recommendations contained within the reports."We are committed to ensuring that every child in the county has the support they need to meet their educational potential, and that they receive all the necessary support and resources to meet any special educational needs or disabilities."

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