Surrey County Council has agreed to review its special educational needs support for children and young people following an investigation by the local government and social care ombudsman.
The ombudsman was asked to investigate for the second time by the family of a young boy with special educational needs after the council failed to provide him with his full entitlement of education and therapy for 18 months.
The investigation also criticised the way the council handled the family’s complaint.
The boy’s mother complained to the council that her son had not received his full entitlement of education and therapy under an education, health and care plan and that it delayed the provision ordered by a tribunal.
Local government and social care ombudsman Michael King said: ‘Councils cannot delegate their duties to ensure provision laid out in young people’s EHC plans are delivered.
‘After councils issue these plans we expect them to ensure all the provision included is in place – and if it is not, it should act to secure it without delay.
‘In this case the boy missed out on a significant amount of tuition and therapies for a prolonged period, despite a previous investigation by us which found the son did not get education between 2018 and 2020. It is disappointing that the council did not learn from the issues raised in my first investigation.
‘I am also concerned with the confusing way the council handled the mother’s complaints, at one stage taking 11 months to handle a complaint that should – according to its own policy – have taken a maximum of 30 days.
‘The council has accepted my recommendations to improve its processes and I hope the better oversight this will bring will ensure other children and young people in Surrey do not miss out on the education and therapy they are entitled to in the same way.’
