A local authority has paid £700 and apologised to a Central Bedfordshire parent after failing to respond to her request for a re-assessment of her child’s special educational needs.
The mother complained about the way Central Bedfordshire Council handled her child’s education, healthcare plan (EHCP), special needs provision, and social care assessments and support.
“She said the child doesn’t have a legally compliant EHCP because of these failures and isn’t being provided with the support needed,” according to a local government watchdog.
“They haven’t received the social care assessment to which they’re entitled, and she hasn’t received the agreed respite support,” said the local government and social care ombudsman.
“The re-assessment request was referred to CBC’s panel, which considered this and decided to decline it. The mother appealed to a tribunal in February 2024.
“After her initial complaint, CBC accepted it hadn’t responded to the re-assessment request within the statutory timescale of 15 days, delaying her right to appeal against its decision by more than three weeks.
“There was a delay of three months in issuing the final EHCP. CBC apologised, offering her a payment of £400 to reflect the upset caused.
“She complained about the CBC response to her request for an assessment of the child’s social care needs by the children with disabilities (CWD) service in July 2024.”
Read: Central Bedfordshire Council pays out more than £3,000 for failing to deliver EHCP
No response
The local authority has a legal requirement to carry out a section 17 child in need assessment for a disabled child, explained the ombudsman. “She asked for an assessment in September 2023, but didn’t receive any response.
“The mother was entitled to four hours a month of support, which she hadn’t received since 2020. She’d been told this would be increased to eight hours a month, but heard nothing further.
“CBC said it contacted a number of professionals to gather information about the child’s health, education and social care needs, and decided she didn’t meet the eligibility criteria for CWD service involvement.
“The council accepted it didn’t respond to the mother’s request within the statutory timescale of 15 calendar days. The delay of just over three weeks was fault.
“It also accepted the annual review process wasn’t completed within the statutory timescales. The delay of more than ten weeks was fault.
“CBC has accepted there were delays at times in its communication with her and these failures were fault. The council’s £400 offer meets expectations.
The council failed to keep proper records of its attempts to contact her in September 2023. This was fault, causing her uncertainty about what CBC did in response to her request. But there were no further failings in its response,” added the ombudsman.
“There was fault by CBC in failing to respond properly to her questions in January and September 2023 about how to find an appropriate support worker and arrange the direct payments for the agreed four hours of respite support.
“This caused her avoidable upset, frustration and uncertainty.
“CBC has arranged a new parent carer needs assessment (PCNA) for her and agreed to make direct payments for the support set out.
“The council has agreed to apologise to her and pay the £400 and a further £300 to reflect the upset, frustration and uncertainty caused by its failures.”
By Euan Duncan
Local Democracy Reporter
