Mum gets payout from Bucks Council after special education plan delays

Buckinghamshire Council was ordered to pay the woman, known only as ‘Ms X’, £350 in compensation.

This was the recommendation of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which investigates complaints against local authorities.

In the case, the council accepted ‘fault’ for missing the 20-week deadline to finalise Ms X’s daughter Y’s EHCP.

It should have completed the process on 9 November, 2023, but it did not issue the final EHCP until 22 February 2024, three and a half months later.

The Ombudsman, which upheld Ms X’s complaint, recommended she be paid £100 per month of delay to the EHCP, resulting in a total of £350.

EHCPs are legal documents for children or young people up to the age of 25 with special educational needs.

The plans set out an individual’s needs and what support they should be provided with in an educational setting to meet those needs.

The case of Ms X and her daughter marks the latest instance of Bucks Council failing to meet the statutory deadlines for EHPCs.

In recent months, Bucks Council has also had to pay at least two other parents for EHCP delays caused by its ongoing shortage of educational psychologists, who assess children’s needs and gather information for plans.

In its decision, the ombudsman said: “We are satisfied the council is taking action to deal with the issues caused by a lack of educational psychologists, which is a wider issue affecting councils across the country.”

It added that it had asked, and the council had agreed, to apologise to Ms X and to compensate her to remedy the mother’s complaint.

Anita Cranmer, the council’s cabinet member for children’s services and education told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Buckinghamshire Council works hard to ensure that ECHP assessments are carried out within the statutory timescales.

“But where this is not possible, due to the level of demand both locally and nationally, the SEND service strives to work with families and schools to mitigate the impact.

“We have apologised to the family for the delay and any distress caused. We continue to work hard, in a difficult recruitment environment, to increase our Educational Psychology Service capacity, with the aim of continuing to improve the service offered.”

The ombudsman said Ms X disagreed with the contents of the final EHCP and has now appealed against this to a tribunal.