Bucks Council failures potentially affected hundreds of children's special education development, says watchdog

A report released by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman today, shows that up to 400 other children were affected by Bucks Council’s delays in delivering special educational plans.

The watchdog says failings in the council’s system were uncovered when it was investigating a specific case involving brothers with special educational needs.

It found that the brothers did not receive the legal speech and language therapy they were legally entitled to for more than a year.

"In the siblings’ cases, one brother missed more than half the speech and language therapy, and almost all of the occupational therapy, which his Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan entitled him to between September 2023 and December 2024,” a spokesperson for the ombudsman revealed.

"His brother also went without his speech and language therapy, and the council repeatedly delayed updating his plan, meaning his mother had no legal right to challenge the level of support he was getting.”

An investigation from the watchdog linked the delays to the council's therapy provider ending its contract with a sub-contractor in early 2024.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found the council failed to properly consider the impact of withdrawing the contract, had no back-up plan, and failed to step in to ensure those children still got the help they were owed quickly enough.

Mrs Amerdeep Clarke, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: "These are not simply cases of two children falling between the cracks of an overstretched service. Instead the council made wholescale changes to the way it provided support without ensuring it could meet the needs of these children and many others.

“Buckinghamshire Council did not do enough when it identified clear warning signs that the therapy hundreds of children and young people needed could not be delivered at the agreed level.

“Every child with an EHC Plan has a legal entitlement to the support set out in it. This case highlights what can go wrong when councils do not exercise sufficient oversight of the services they commission.

“When a provider struggles to meet demand, it is the council's responsibility to step in - not to wait and hope the situation improves. I welcome Buckinghamshire Council's agreement to make the service improvements I have recommended, and I hope this report serves as a reminder to councils across the country of their duties to children with SEND.”

Following the specific brothers’ case, the council was ordered to pay £1,000 to the family. Bucks Council has agreed to create a plan it will share with the watchdog showing how it will address any shortfall in the needs of children and young people with EHC Plans whose needs are not currently being met through the therapy service.

It will also develop a protocol for cases where the therapy service cannot deliver provision in line with a child’s EHC plan, the watchdog revealed.

Councillor Carl Jackson said: “The council fully accepts the ombudsman’s findings in this individual case and recognises the impact on the family involved. We are sorry we let these children down in 2023/24 and fell short of our usual standards and legal duties. Our priority now is to ensure this failing is not repeated.

He continued: “We continue to face high demand for Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) services, but we are successfully delivering improvements to those services. That positive progress was recognised in the encouraging Ofsted SEND Local Area Inspection report published on 10 February.

“Last year we adopted our local SEND and inclusion strategy with partners, demonstrating our shared commitment to strengthening services across Buckinghamshire and ensuring no child misses out on the support they need.”

Bucks Council says it will release a within the next three months to explain the steps it will take to review its approach to EHC plans. The report can be found online here.

Jenny Ricketts, chief nurse of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust which also provides support to young people with SEND, added: “We take the Ombudsman’s findings extremely seriously and are deeply sorry that the children and their family did not receive the support they were entitled to. This is not the standard of care we strive to deliver. We are already strengthening our processes and working closely with partners to ensure children and young people with SEND receive timely, consistent and high-quality support. Our teams are committed to learning from this and making the improvements needed so families can have full confidence in the services we provide.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include a response from the council and NHS trust.