A mum will get more than £6,800 in compensation from Richmond Council after her son, who has special educational needs, missed out on months of education.

A watchdog investigation found the Council did not properly consider whether the boy could access provision outlined in his Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, or its duty to make alternative arrangements for him.

A Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report said the council's shortcomings meant the boy, referred to as K, missed out on provision in his EHC plan from October 2023 to May 2024, and on alternative educational arrangements from January to May 2024.

It said the council's failure to make sure his mum, named Ms X, was reimbursed the amount she had paid for an online school had caused her financial disadvantage.

Ms X said her son was caused distress and became isolated, which led to a decline in his mental health and had a major impact on his education.

The council agreed to reconsider a previous decision not to issue K with an EHC plan in July 2023, as he was struggling to go to school due to declining mental health and anxiety. It also decided to look at commissioning a clinical psychologist to assess him.

The council later acknowledged it should have commissioned the assessment sooner, the report said, which may have recommended he did not return to school.

The authority issued K with a finalised EHC plan in October 2023.

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While the school offered measures to help reintegrate K, the report said, he remained unable to go into school to take up most of the support. This meant he was not receiving the provision outlined in his EHC plan.

Ms X asked the council to agree to K starting at an online school in January 2024 and staying registered at his original school. She enrolled K at the online school and paid for this herself, as the new term was starting and he had not had a proper education for months.

But the council refused to agree to the online school or dual registration in February. It recommended reviewing K's EHC plan instead, which took place that March.

The watchdog said that although the council was right to call an annual review, and could have done this sooner, it was not satisfied it had properly considered making alternative provision for K.

The report said: "It had been a few months since it had last considered this. The reintegration plan was not working and the school had said that it could not deliver the EHC plan. It is also not clear that the council considered the psychologist's view… that K was being harmed by continued efforts to reintegrate him to school."

The council did not consider its duty to make alternative provision again until Ms X raised this in March, the report said. It told Ms X the school was still planning to arrange suitable education for K, but it would cover the cost of the online school.

The council issued K with a final EHC plan in May 2024, which said he should be taught outside of school with a mix of online school, occupational therapy and other therapeutic services.

Ms X said the school offered her a payment, but this was less than the amount she had paid for the online school.

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The report said: "It is often acceptable for a council to ask the current school to arrange and fund alternative educational provision from the child's current funding. However, the provision of education (either via the EHC plan or via alternative provision) remains the council's duty. This means that when it became clear that Ms X could not agree the payments with the school, the council should have intervened to make sure Ms X was reimbursed."

The watchdog told the council to apologise to Ms X and pay her £6,806 overall – including £5,256 for the online school and £1,550 for the provision K missed.

A Richmond Council spokesperson said: "We are sorry that, in this case, a child did not receive all the support set out in their Education, Health and Care plan and an alternative provision offer. We have apologised to the family and accepted the ombudsman's findings in full.

"Supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities is one of our most important responsibilities, and we take any failure to deliver agreed provision extremely seriously. We will implement all recommended actions and strengthening our processes to ensure children receive the support they deserve."

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