9 October - Ombudsman puts an expensive boot into Bexley Council
A little over a year ago I brought together two BiB readers who had
similar problems. Young sons who needed special help with their schooling. I
lost track of one who went off in the legal direction as his argument was more
with an unreasonable Academy than Bexley Council which tried - unsuccessfully it
is true - to help him.
The other case was more complicated as the boy had additional medical problems which went
beyond simple Special Educational Needs provision and Bexley Council failed to
provide any sensible help. The whole process was slow and the parents considered
Council staff behaviour to be inappropriate. Because of that their son lost a
great deal of his education and any caring parent would be distressed and upset
to see a difficult situation made worse.
There is a statutory requirement to review such cases annually and communicate
the findings promptly. The parents considered the Council’s response to be
inadequate and provided their reasons. Bexley said their son was no different to anyone
else on the autistic spectrum. They were unsympathetic to the child being unwell
and were critical of the consequential poor school attendance record. They threatened
the parents with legal action and turned up, mob handed and uninvited to his
home insisting that he should be at school.
Bexley Council was dismissive of their concerns for the boy’s welfare and
ignored the advice of the family’s privately hired psychiatrist. They went
further and implied their own Autism Advisor knew best. They had “a vast knowledge of autism”.
The parents complained and Bexley Council agreed to revise the educational plan
after which he received an hour or two’s tutoring each week. The council failed
to find a school which could
meet the child’s needs.
Four months after the parent made their Stage 2 complaint it was accepted to
some extent and by the end of 2022 the Council agreed to pay for tutoring costs
while still maintaining that they were the autism experts.
Despite the small concessions and
promises there was still no education forthcoming except for a
bit of homework which does not fulfill the statutory obligations. Additionally
Bexley Council made no effort to check whether or not it was suitable homework.
The Ombudsman has said that while a very few weeks of delay may sometimes be acceptable the delays were measured in many months. Bexley Council was
guilty of contradicting itself and its hounding of the family with a home visit
was unnecessarily upsetting. The school involved claimed to have referred the case to the Autism
Advisory Service but that looked to be untrue.
Bexley Council excessively delayed proceedings and caused significant distress
to the parents. As a result it must apologise to them and pay for the privately
sourced tutor. Separately it must pay a total of £4,450 as compensation for the
upset caused and for the lack of education throughout 2022.
The foregoing is
a summary of the Ombudsman’s report and is in no way intended to enlarge upon
it. There has been no recent correspondence - apart from provision of the LGO
link - with the parents who have not actively sought publicity for this case and prefer to keep a low profile.
Obviously provision of the LGO URL implies that this summary should be published - but without comment.
Beyond what you have read here I only know
the name of Bexley’s
Team Leader and what my parent/contact had to say about her
a little while ago is probably best left unsaid.