Local Government Ombudsman

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Northamptonshire County Council (05B00611)

Children and family services & Special educational needs

Maladministration causing injustice

30 November 2006

‘Mr and Mrs Weston’s eldest daughter, ‘Joanne’, (not their real names for legal reasons) has Angelman’s syndrome and is severely disabled. She has learning difficulties, very little speech and a developmental age of around 2.5 years. Her parents made a number of complaints about how the Council handled Joanne’s needs, both educational and social services.

The Ombudsman found that the Council failed to carry out a core assessment of Joanne’s needs between July 2001 and March 2004. This failure was particularly significant in June 2003 when Joanne’s respite care was reduced. He also concluded that the Council failed to carry out a review of her needs on a six-monthly basis and did not carry out any reviews at all between July 2001 and June 2003. He further found that there was very little liaison between Children’s Services and the Education Department, with officers working in isolation from one another.

He concluded that a core assessment would have provided a much more detailed holistic assessment of Joanne’s needs and her parents’ wishes and needs. It would have helpfully fed into the delayed education transition process and perhaps have helped address her parents’ expectations regarding residential schooling at an earlier stage, as well as exploring in more depth other options for help. Joanne’s parents lost the opportunity to gain all the support that they and Joanne would have received had this comprehensive overview of their needs been provided. He also concluded that a proper assessment may have prompted further investigation into Joanne’s scoliosis, which was serious enough by 2003 to significantly affect her posture and warrant surgery.

The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and recommends that the Council pays £5,000 to Mr and Mrs Weston and £750 to Joanne to compensate for the injustice they have been caused, and for their time and trouble in pursuing their complaint with him.

Date Published: 30/01/09