A boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) missed out on taking his GCSE exams because he had no school place for around three months, his mum said.
Brent Council has been ordered to pay the mum £1,000 compensation following an investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO).
The local authority was found to be at fault for the delay in providing alternative education after the son – referred to in the report as Y – was removed from the school roll after returning from a short period living abroad. This is despite Y having an education, health and care plan (ECHP) with the school.
The local authority “had a duty” to provide the required education – either in a school place or through alternative means – according to the LGO report. However, it also concluded that it would have been “very unlikely” that this alone affected his GCSE opportunities.
Y had an EHCP during his secondary school education to help him with his ADHD, as well as his “significant difficulties with language and communication”. His mum – referred to in the report as Miss X – told the Ombudsman that Y went to live abroad for a short period at the end of 2023 to early 2024 but when he returned “he had no school place”.
Brent Council told investigators that the school removed Y from the roll in March 2024. The Ombudsman said it is “not clear whether this is because Y had left to live abroad, or for another reason” but found that the school did not inform the local authority as it should have.
Miss X was concerned that Y had no school place, particularly as it was his GCSE year and asked the Brent Council to help her find him education, according to the report. She subsequently complained that the council failed to provide Y with suitable education between March and July 2024 and, whilst it did provide some individual tuition, it was only for a limited number of hours.
Brent Council told investigators that it arranged for Y to receive 15 hours of tuition per week, which it said is its standard practice for young people accessing interim education. Miss X claimed that Y only received two hours of tuition per week, which she felt was insufficient and prevented her son from taking his GCSEs. Due to the absence of further information, the LGO accepted the council’s account.
Following an investigation, the Ombudsman recognised that it would have been “very difficult” for the council to find Y a school place given how close it was to his GCSE exam dates. They also concluded that Y would “inevitably be behind in his academic studies having been abroad and, on the balance of probability, it is very unlikely he would have been in a position to take his GCSEs even if the council had found him a school place”.
However, the report concluded that Brent Council had a duty to provide alternative education before mid-July 2024 if there was no available placement. For this delay it found the local authority at fault and ordered it to make a payment of £1,000 to Miss X for Y’s lost education, which the LGO suggested caused her “avoidable frustration, time and trouble”.
A spokesperson for Brent Council said: “We have accepted the Ombudsman’s final decision and apologised to Miss X for the fault and injustice. We have also made a symbolic payment of £1,000 for Y’s lost education, to be used for his benefit.”
Grant Williams is a journalist and Local Democracy Reporter (LDR) for Reach PLC, reporting on local government, politics and community issues across London. As part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he has contributed to Harrow Online, covering council decisions, housing developments, transport, planning matters and stories affecting local communities across Harrow and Brent.
