A college student from Richmond with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was left unable to take his exams at home and had to change subjects at short notice due to Richmond Council blunders.

A watchdog investigation found the council at fault for the disruption the boy was caused while sitting his GCSEs.

The boy, named B in the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report, was said to have been caused unnecessary stress as he had to travel to an examination centre instead of receiving the home invigilation he was promised.

An agency provided him with tuition on the council's behalf.

B's mum, referred to as Ms M, said she believed the council's mistakes affected his exam performance.

CFS is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

The ombudsman found the council at fault for failing to arrange for B to take his GCSE exams at home, which meant he had to travel. B's education, health and care (EHC) plan said he would have a home invigilator for his exams.

Ms M said the council's blunder caused B unnecessary stress and affected his performance in his exams, along with his plans to return to college.

She claimed the time she had to spend dealing with the matter affected her income as she is self-employed.

The ombudsman also found B could not sit exams for one of the science subjects he had prepared for, due to a clash in the exam timetable.

Although he still ended up taking two science subjects, the watchdog said it could not underestimate the disruption and stress this had caused.

It added the council was responsible for the mistakes the agency made in choosing B's subjects, which resulted in the clash.

The report said: "Ms M believes the council could have done more to enable B to take his exams closer to home when home invigilation proved impossible.

"She says her dealings with the council impacted her work and mental health. She says B was very stressed and believes this impacted his performance.

"Ms M says that on the way to one exam, they were caught in rush hour traffic which caused additional stress and had a negative impact on B. Ms M says B worked extremely hard for his exams and feels the faults in his special educational provision had a negative impact on his performance and future opportunities."

The ombudsman told the council to apologise to Ms M and B and pay them £300 to acknowledge the stress and inconvenience they were caused.

Richmond Council has been contacted for comment.