Council Failed to Deliver Support to Special Needs Child
Ombudsman's report finds she was sent to nursery with untrained staff
Wandsworth Council was made to pay £2,100 in compensation to the girl's father. Picture: Wandsworth Council
September 10, 2024
A man has been awarded compensation of £2,100 after staff at his daughter’s nursery were not trained to support her special needs. A watchdog investigation found Wandsworth Council failed to check arrangements were in place to deliver specialist support for her at the mainstream nursery, which she attended for a year-and-a-half.
The council originally offered the father, named Mr F in the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report, £300 to acknowledge the provision his daughter, referred to as G, missed. But the Ombudsman found this was not enough after its investigation and told the authority to pay him £1,800 more.
The council issued G’s first education, health and care (EHC) plan in June 2022, which said she would go to a mainstream nursery for 15 hours a week. It updated the plan in September to say she would also attend a special nursery for an extra 15 hours a week from January 2023.
The plan required staff at the mainstream nursery to undergo specialist training to support G, but the Ombudsman said they did not receive this training. This meant she did not receive all the speech and language therapy and occupational therapy outlined in her plan. She went to the mainstream nursery for 15 hours a week from June 2022 to December 2023.
The report also found fault with the new plan the council issued G in February 2023, ahead of her transfer to primary school, as it outlined the type of school Mr F wanted but not the specific school he had requested. The authority then told him it could not offer G a place at his preferred school.
Mr F asked to discuss deferring G starting school until September 2024 so she could start at his preferred, or second-choice, school. The council thanked him for his ‘request’ to defer G’s entry to reception and approved it.
It later told him it could not offer G a place at either of the schools, after it allocated the places at his second-choice school to other children when he said he wanted to defer her entry to reception. Mr F said he felt he then had ‘no choice’ but to keep her in nursery for another year.
The report said, “The council did not discuss the matter with them. This is fault. The council went ahead and approved a request G’s parents had not, in fact, made. This, too, is fault. The council then allocated all the available places to other children.”
It added, “I find the council failed to provide G’s parents with all the information they needed to make an informed decision. This is fault. There is no suggestion G was not ready for school and needed to remain in nursery for another year.
“It clearly helped the council having one less child to place in its oversubscribed resource provision if G did not start school in September 2023. The council’s actions suggest it prioritised its own needs over those of G.”
The Ombudsman found the council then applied a blanket policy, failing to consider G’s circumstances, which delayed her full-time attendance at the special nursery by a term. It originally said it would only fund her place there for 15 hours a week.
But it changed its mind, after Mr F complained, and agreed G could go to the special nursery for 30 hours a week from January 2024. It later agreed she could start school in September.
The Ombudsman told the council to apologise to G’s parents and pay them £1,800 to recognise the impact its failings had, on top of the £300 it had already offered.
A Wandsworth Council spokesperson said, “We are fully committed to addressing the issues raised and improving the services we provide to our community. We accept the recommendations of the ombudsman and will be working closely with the family to ensure the matter is resolved.
“Our priority remains clear: to ensure every child receives the support they need to thrive. We are dedicated to making continuous improvements and working closely with our partners to address these issues.”
Charlotte Lilywhite - Local Democracy Reporter