West Sussex council ordered to pay £2,000 to mother of child with special needs

A mother of a child with special needs has been paid £2,000 by a council for failures involving his education, health and care plan.

The mother - known as Ms C - turned to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman after making a complaint to West Sussex County Council.

The ombudsman has upheld her complaint, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The council has accepted the findings and apologised.

Ms C was unhappy that the council had not ensured her son received the help and education which had been set out in his plan.

The plan specified he should "access 1:1 and small group work with differentiated activities as required".

His mother did not feel this was happening, so complained to the council in September 2020.

Unhappy with their response, she turned to the ombudsman for help.

In a report into the case, the ombudsman advised the council should apologise to Ms C.

It also said the council should pay her £1,250 to recognise the loss of education provision to her son, plus £750 for her distress, time and trouble and to help cover the costs of her having taken on the services of an advocate.

The report said: "We upheld the complaint, finding the council failed to adequately address Ms C's repeated concerns over several months.

"The faults caused injustice to Ms C in the form of distress, expenses and time and trouble and resulted in some loss of provision for her son."

The local authority had carried out "all the recommendations in the report", a council spokesman said.

"We accept the findings from the ombudsman's report and have apologised to the family," he added.

"We have reminded all relevant staff of the protocol around Education Health and Care Plans and their role in ensuring this work is carried out effectively."

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