Local Authority Fined for Not Delivering SEND Education Provision

26th March 2025, Slough Council were fined £11,750 in compensation for failing to deliver suitable education provision for a boy with special educational needs. The boy missed out on special provision from May 2022 to January 2024. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) found the child and his father suffered injustice.

We know that too many families are suffering the same frustration, distress and uncertainty around their child's special educational needs and how they are being met. Many young people are missing out on valuable education or left in Alternative Provisions with a limited amount of education and a part time timetable.

Secondary Schools these days are too big and staff too pressured, meaning pupil engagement and individualised attention for the most vulnerable suffers. It's not just that there is an increasing rate of young people with special needs like ADHD and ASD, but that class sizes are much bigger, and overall schools themselves larger, meaning vulnerable young people can't cope in that environment. This is why we see so many more requests for EHC Needs Assessments in Years 8 and 9, because most of these young people can just about get by in Primary school where the demands are less and the environment smaller. Once you get to Secondary School you need to have developed organisational skills, to have the right book for the right class and be in the right location at the right time to ensure academic success. We call this Executive Function for planning, focusing and managing time; and we know this is where young people with special needs suffer.

I am passionate about ensuring your Local Authority works together with you as a family to ensure the right provision and the right school for your young person where they can do their best.

EHCP Schools specialise in helping families navigate special educational needs, including finding suitable schools and assisting with education, health and care plans. We work with pupils who are mainstream cognitively able, whose primary need is ASD, PDA, Aspergers, ADHD, anxiety and depression, Tourette's, Dyslexia, Speech & language, SPD, school refusal and exclusion. Please visit us at: www.ehcpschools.co.uk 

Tamara King is an experienced Educational Consultant for SEN, and an expert by experience as a parent to children who had EHCP's and attended specialist schools. Please contact us at ehcpschools@gmail.com