Mum paid £3,000 by council over 'failures' after autistic son misses four months of school

13.12.2022 - 08:23 / dailyrecord.co.uk

A mum was paid £3,000 by a council over 'failures' after her autistic son missed four months of school. The compensation was awarded by an ombudsman, who found there was 'delay and poor communication' by the local authority, reports Manchester Evening News.

A report from a Government and Social Care Ombudsman found that there was a failure by Salford city council under the terms of the Children and Families Act 2014 to provide alternative education for the boy. This came after the authority was aware that he had been out of school for 15 days.

The boy, named 'B', in the report was diagnosed with autism in 2018 and experiences extreme agitation in noisy and busy environments. Due to this, his mother, labelled Mrs X, says that he stopped attending school in December 2020 due to being unable to cope.

The council received a request for a request for a special educational needs (SEN) assessment later that month. The local authority agreed to the assessment but it took until May 2021 until they issued the child's education and health care plan (EHCP).

Salford city council then issued a second EHCP the next month and claimed Mrs X was 'slow to respond to the draft, or to name her preferred school and this caused some delay in the process'.

However, the mother insists that she returned hers and her son's comments on the day she received the first draft. The report read: "Mrs X says the council agreed to specialist provision and she visited various specialist schools."

"Mrs X says the council issued a second draft and she responded promptly, naming a particular school as her preferred choice. Mrs X had to approach a solicitor because of the delay in issuing a final EHC plan.

"The solicitor sent a pre-action protocol letter,