£3,000 payout for missed therapy provision
Telford & Wrekin Council has been told that it carries the can if a school working on its behalf to provide a care plan fails to do the job.
An Ombudsman has ruled that Telford & Wrekin Council should pay ‘Mrs X’ £3,000 after it failed to secure the therapy set out in Mrs X’s daughter’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
The girl missed out on the therapy she needed and the council agreed to apologise and make a symbolic £3,000 payment to Mrs X in recognition of the missed provision.
Telford & Wrekin Council had been assured by a specialist school where the girl was that there were “no difficulties meeting the provision set out in the EHC Plan.”
The Ombudsman said that the council has “considered that it had met its Section 42 duty by securing the provision set out in Y’s EHC Plan.” But following Mrs X’s complaint the council asked the school to prioritise the case.
An inspector working on behalf of the Ombudsman wrote: “The law says that if the council asks another organisation to make the provision and that organisation fails to do so, the council remains liable.
“Therefore, even though the council believed in good faith that Y’s specialist school was providing provision, Y did not receive it, and therefore the council was ultimately at fault.”
The inspector added that the council did not ask the school how/when it was going to deliver but that if it had, it would have been evident that there was a long waiting list for therapy and Y would not be receiving provision for some time.
“This would have prompted the council to secure provision elsewhere to ensure Y received the therapy she needed,” the inspector added.
The council had failed to secure provision for Y between May 2023 when the girl started at the school and August 2024 when Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman.
Mrs X has appealed the content of her daughter’s EHC plan which has not been investigated by the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman ruled that the council must “demonstrate how, in the future, the council will ensure that SEN provision is being actively delivered by an organisation.”
The council says as a result it is working with partner organisations to make sure SEN provision is delivered.
A Telford & Wrekin Council spokesperson said: “Following the recent Ombudsman decision into a complaint about the provision of an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan, we are working closely with partner organisations to make sure SEN provision is actively delivered in accordance with EHC Plans.”
