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West Northamptonshire special school payout over missed education

Ollie Conopo/BBC A line of parents outside the council offices with placards protesting about SEND provisionOllie Conopo/BBC
Parents in West Northamptonshire have been protesting about the lack of SEND places

A family are due to be paid £2,000 in compensation after an Ombudsman concluded their child missed six weeks in a "key stage" of her education.

The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) told West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) to pay the money after a complaint from the girl's family.

The LGO heard there was a four-month delay in making a place available at a specialist school.

The council said it accepted the Ombudsman's recommendations.

The girl had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which stated she should start in Year 10 of a mainstream secondary school in September 2021, even though she had additional educational and social needs.

Her family appealed to a SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) Tribunal in December 2021, and the panel agreed early in 2022 that the girl should have a place in a specialist school.

The Ombudsman found that WNC amended the EHCP and named a specialist school in April 2022, but said a place would only be available from September 2022.

She was offered "settling in" days twice per week until then.

'Council error'

The school and WNC eventually agreed the pupil could start from June.

After being contacted by the mother, the council agreed she should have been offered a place in March 2022 - the Ombudsman said.

The LGO investigator wrote that the council's error caused the student to miss six weeks "at a key stage of education".

A spokesperson for WNC said: "We acknowledge and fully accept the ombudsman's recommendations.

"We know how extremely challenging this situation is and the daily impact it is having on families in West Northants - this is a priority for us.

"There is still much to do to deliver better outcomes for our young people, however, we are working hard with parents, carers, and partners to create real solutions for this."

In September, parents protested at the WNC offices in Northampton over what they said was an "epidemic" of children with SEND being failed.

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