North Northamptonshire Council ordered to pay family £1,600 for delayed education health and care plan

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North Northamptonshire Council has been instructed to pay a family £1,600 over delays in completing a special educational needs assessment and allocating a school place.

A council watchdog which investigated the parent’s complaints found that the faults in provision from North Northants Council (NNC) caused ‘uncertainty’ and ‘distress’ for the child.

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The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) concluded that the pupil suffered a 10-month delay in receiving an education health and care plan (EHCP).

The council also started consulting with specialist schools too late which ‘exacerbated the delay’.

North Northants Council has been ordered to pay a family £1,600 for delays to an EHCPNorth Northants Council has been ordered to pay a family £1,600 for delays to an EHCP
North Northants Council has been ordered to pay a family £1,600 for delays to an EHCP

The mother initially requested an EHCP assessment in spring 2022, but her application was lost and was not processed by the council, which the LGO found error in. A second request for her child was then submitted in autumn that year.

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The ombudsman ruled that a final EHCP should have been issued within 20 weeks of the mother’s first application, in summer 2022. The council did not issue a final plan until 10 months later in early summer 2023.

On top of the delays to the EHC plan, the LGO found NNC did not start consulting with schools early enough. It should have named a placement when the final plan was sent out but didn’t start discussions until after the fact, which was further impacted by the school holidays.

As no school place was named in time for the start of term the council began providing tuition, however this also began three weeks late. NNC acknowledged that it should have started consultations with schools two months earlier.

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The ombudsman investigator wrote: “This fault exacerbated the delay that had already taken place.

“There was a 10 month delay in issuing a final EHC Plan and a further delay naming a school. This caused uncertainty, distress and additional time and trouble.”

The council watchdog told the authority to pay the mother £1,000 for the ‘distress, time and trouble’ and another £600 in recognition of the three weeks of missed education.

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It must also ensure it has processes and staffing in place to progress EHC needs assessments within the timeframe and ensure that schools are consulted at the appropriate time.

NNC leader Jason Smithers said: “North Northamptonshire Council accepts the findings of the ombudsman and would like to extend its sincerest apologies to both the family and the child for the weaknesses in the delivery of the child’s education during what must have been an extremely stressful and difficult time.

“As the ombudsman recognised, the delays caused unnecessary distress, uncertainty, time and trouble.

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"This was avoidable distress resulting in a period of time where the child did not receive an education and for that we are very sorry.

“We will continue to work with the family, to ensure that the child receives the vital education which best suits their needs, and we will review our policies and procedures to ensure that this does not happen again.”

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