former Bedfordshire County Council (07B12913)

Special educational needs       Maladministration causing injustice

30 June 2009

The former Bedfordshire County Council failed to provide education for a girl with special educational needs for over a year. The Ombudsman said the injustice was considerable: “She is already educationally disadvantaged, and the loss of four terms of specialist education in her first two years of secondary school is significant, because the opportunity to make up that lost time is limited.”

‘Ms Newman’ (not her real name for legal reasons) complained about the Council’s failure to provide education for her daughter, who had multiple and complex special educational needs and disabilities. Ms Newman removed her daughter from her existing school out of concern that her needs were not being met. She asked the Council for home tuition while it finalised her statement of special educational needs, but it refused because Mr Newman’s daughter did not meet its criteria for home tuition, which covered exclusion, long-term illness or injury, and pregnancy.

The Ombudsman found maladministration causing injustice because the Council failed to provide suitable education for Ms Newman’s daughter between April 2006 and September 2007, commenting that the Council fettered its discretion by failing to take account of her particular needs and circumstances in deciding to refuse home tuition during that period.

Remedy

The Ombudsman recommended that, to remedy the injustice, Bedford Council (as successor authority to the former Bedfordshire County Council) should apologise to Ms Newman and pay her £3,000 compensation.

Ms Newman’s daughter settled well into her new school, and so the Ombudsman considered there was no further action the Council should take to remedy the injustice caused to her by its maladministration.

LGO satisfied with Council's response: 13 November 2009

Date Updated: 10/12/09