Hertfordshire County Council has agreed to pay £8,500 to a parent who complained about the lack of education provided for her son after he was excluded from school.
The boy – who was already being assessed for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – was excluded in September 2022. At that point, the council should have arranged suitable education, either at school or elsewhere.
However, the parent lodged a complaint with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), stating that her child did not receive any form of education between September 2022 and May 2023.
She also complained that after the council issued an EHCP in April 2023, her son did not receive the specified provision. She said this had a significant impact on his education and social development and had caused distress and uncertainty.
The LGSCO investigation – in which the child is referred to as Y – found failings in the council’s actions. As a result, the council agreed to pay the parent £8,100 to recognise the loss of education, and a further £400 for distress and uncertainty.
The LGSCO report stated: “Y went without a significant amount of education between 2022 and 2024 including large periods with nothing in place at all.”
“Once Y had an EHC Plan in place he went over a whole academic year without receiving any of the specialist provision in the Plan.”
“Had the Council put in place the specialist provision including mentoring and social aspects then Y may have been in a better place to engage fully with the home tuition.”
“This impacted on Y’s education and social development and caused Ms X distress and uncertainty.”
According to the Ombudsman’s findings, the boy received just three weeks of tuition before the end of the 2022/23 academic year. Some home tuition was put in place from November 2023, in line with the EHCP, but other key elements – including mentoring – were not.
This continued until May 2024, when “a package of provision” was finally put in place. That same month, the parent made a formal complaint to the LGSCO.
The EHCP issued in May 2023 had specified a range of support, including one-to-one tuition, structured routines, multi-sensory teaching, development of social and communication skills, emotional coaching, and mentoring sessions.
The LGSCO also criticised the council’s complaint handling, describing it as “poor” and noting it took five months to issue a stage one response to the parent’s July 2023 complaint.
A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: “We acknowledge the findings of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) when a ruling is made against the council.”
“While every effort is made to meet statutory time frames in this case the level of service fell short of what parents should expect.”
“While we cannot discuss individual cases, we sincerely apologise to the parent and child and continue to take steps to improve service standards for children with special educational needs and disabilities.”
Deborah is a Local Democracy Reporter covering news across Hertfordshire, with a strong focus on councils, local government and public policy. Her reporting includes county council decisions, council tax, spending pressures, legal and regulatory issues, healthcare stories including junior doctors, and community projects affecting local residents.
