Latest news with #LGO
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Brent Council: Resident offered £2k for housing delays
Brent Council has offered £2,050 in compensation to a resident due to delays in completing housing and medical woman, named as Miss X, complained she could not afford the north London property she was living in and it was "unsuitable for medical reasons".The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) found the council was at fault for taking six months to process the housing application and three months to make a medical assessment, the Local Democracy Reporting Service local authority admitted the woman "might have missed out on a suitable property" due to the delays and said it had made improvements to its processes. 'Caused injustice' Miss X applied for help with housing in the summer of 2023, however, it wasn't until March 2024, after she sent a complaint, that the council concluded she was eligible for applications should be determined within eight LGO's report said the "distress and uncertainty" to Miss X "caused injustice" and could have been council said it would also assess the resident's medical records in April, which it did not do and failed to contact her or send out May, the local authority accepted these were mistakes and offered her £400 in council later admitted it did not look at her medical information between May and October 2024, but had now decided that she should be in a higher housing band. The council said that, if it had not delayed, it "would have decided earlier that her property was not suitable for medical reasons", according to the council offered Miss X an additional £1,650 because the delays meant she was "distressed and anxious". Cabinet member for Housing and Residents Services, Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, said the council had "sincerely apologised" to Miss X for the "uncertainty and distress" added: "We have also reviewed our internal procedures and taken steps to strengthen them, to ensure that housing applications and medical assessments are handled promptly and in accordance with both legislation and council policy."The council has since offered Miss X a suitable property.
BBC News
30-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Mum given £3.5k pay-out over Wirral Council education plan failure
A mother and daughter have received a £3,500 pay-out after a council apologised for the "distress" caused by failings that meant her teenage daughter dropped out of Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) investigated a complaint by the mother, referred to as Mrs B, about delays in assessments, poor communication and a lack of support from Wirral Council. It was over the education, health and care plan (EHCP) for her daughter, referred to as C, who has special education needs and disabilities (SEND).Wirral Council said the authority "wholeheartedly accept the Ombudsman's findings" and publicly apologised. C went into year 11 in 2023 and hoped to move into further education in 2024, the Local Democracy Reporting Service had received support to help her complete her GCSEs and her mother asked the council to assess whether an EHCP - a special extra plan of support - was needed. 'Distressing impact' The council agreed to the request but no plan was in place by the time C had started at her new school in mid September C was "experiencing symptoms associated with her special educational needs that had a distressing impact on her", the LGO ombudsman then got involved who found the family had not had any contact from their caseworker since July 2024. By mid October C was no longer in college. Finding the council at fault, the LGO said: "Part of the fault clearly lies in the service failure resulting from the council having too few education psychologists last year to meet demand." During the process, the council said it was facing a shortage of education the LGO said, while there was a nationwide shortage, Wirral Council had "systemic problems" meeting timescales for completing EHC assessments which had been noted in an Ofsted inspection more than three years ago so "pre-date" spikes in demand last year. The council said it would be outlining the next steps on how it is improving services following a recent Ofsted inspection. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Lewisham mum of child too anxious to go to school wins £1.5k compensation
A mum of a child too anxious to attend school has been awarded £1,500 from a South London council after it failed to arrange alternative education. The unnamed girl, known only as B, missed out on classes for six months due to Lewisham Council's delays in offering her replacement tuition elsewhere. The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) said the situation caused the girl and her family 'distress, frustration and uncertainty', in a report from February. B's mum, known only as Dr X, informed the council that her daughter was unable to attend school due to anxiety in November 2023. The girl's school offered her mindfulness and lunchtime support session if she could attend. But alternative arrangements for her education in the meantime were not put in place. In December 2023, the school's attendance officer sent a letter to Dr X warning her she could be taken to court if her child continued to skip classes. Later the same month, B's doctor informed the school that she had a diagnosis of autism, which was a potential cause of her non-attendance at school. Lewisham told the LGO it took steps to arrange alternative education for B upon receiving the doctor's evidence. But it did not manage to secure replacement tuition for the girl until April 2024, four months later. As compensation, the LGO ordered the council to pay Dr X £1,500 and remind attendance staff of their responsibility to provide education for children who don't attend school full-time. The LGO said: 'We have found the council at fault for a delay in providing access to suitable provision after receiving a medical letter. This caused distress, uncertainty and frustration for Dr X and her child. 'The council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic financial payment and remind its staff of the Ombudsman's guidance on how we expect councils to fulfil their responsibilities to provide education for children who do not attend school full-time.' A Lewisham Council spokesperson said: 'We have reviewed the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman's decision regarding Dr X's complaint and accept the findings. £We have apologised to the family for the disruption to their child's education, and acknowledge that we should have done better. 'We are committed to learning from this experience and are actively reviewing our attendance and hospital outreach programme policies and processes to ensure that children facing health challenges receive the support they need without unnecessary delays. "Safeguarding the wellbeing and educational development of all children in the borough remains our top priority.'
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mum of girl too anxious for school wins £1.5k from South London council for failing to provide education
A mum of a child too anxious to attend school has been awarded £1,500 from a South London council after it failed to arrange alternative education. The unnamed girl, known only as B, missed out on classes for six months due to Lewisham Council's delays in offering her replacement tuition elsewhere. The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) said the situation caused the girl and her family 'distress, frustration and uncertainty', in a report from February. B's mum, known only as Dr X, informed the council that her daughter was unable to attend school due to anxiety in November 2023. The girl's school offered her mindfulness and lunchtime support session if she could attend. But alternative arrangements for her education in the meantime were not put in place. READ MORE: 44-storey South London tower confirmed with 'heart of community' food court bulldozed for 900 homes READ MORE: The South London neighbourhood 'that feels like a village' and where everyone is 'very friendly' In December 2023, the school's attendance officer sent a letter to Dr X warning her she could be taken to court if her child continued to skip classes. Later the same month, B's doctor informed the school that she had a diagnosis of autism, which was a potential cause of her non-attendance at school. Lewisham told the LGO it took steps to arrange alternative education for B upon receiving the doctor's evidence. But it did not manage to secure replacement tuition for the girl until April 2024, four months later. As compensation, the LGO ordered the council to pay Dr X £1,500 and remind attendance staff of their responsibility to provide education for children who don't attend school full-time. The LGO said: "We have found the council at fault for a delay in providing access to suitable provision after receiving a medical letter. This caused distress, uncertainty and frustration for Dr X and her child. "The council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic financial payment and remind its staff of the Ombudsman's guidance on how we expect councils to fulfil their responsibilities to provide education for children who do not attend school full-time." A Lewisham Council spokesperson said: "We have reviewed the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman's decision regarding Dr X's complaint and accept the findings. We have apologised to the family for the disruption to their child's education, and acknowledge that we should have done better. "We are committed to learning from this experience and are actively reviewing our attendance and hospital outreach programme policies and processes to ensure that children facing health challenges receive the support they need without unnecessary delays. Safeguarding the wellbeing and educational development of all children in the borough remains our top priority." Got a story? Email Don't miss out on the biggest local stories. Sign up to our MySouthLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more.
The Guardian
09-02-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Successful special educational needs complaints in England quadruple in four years
Successful complaints about councils' special educational needs and disability (Send) services in England have quadrupled in four years, in the latest evidence of the crisis facing the system. The local government and social care ombudsman (LGO), which handles complaints about English councils, upheld 1,043 cases regarding Send provision in 2024 – nearly 40% more than in 2023, and four times more than the 258 upheld in 2021. The Send system – for children with disabilities and conditions such as autism and ADHD – always faced challenges, but has been in crisis since the coalition government increased the age range of young people entitled to Send support without giving councils the necessary funding. Rising needs among children have outpaced increases in government funding, leaving a toxic combination of ballooning council deficits, legally required provision going unfulfilled and children and parents left in crisis, sometimes without any schooling. Covid exacerbated the problems faced by children with Send, with Ofsted reporting in 2021 that they had been disproportionately affected. 'These figures provide yet more evidence that the English Send system is circling the drain,' said Matthew Keer, of the Special Needs Jungle website. 'Families don't make these complaints lightly – they usually have to exhaust local procedures first before they can turn to the ombudsman. 'The compensation that councils pay out to families is almost always far less than the cost of delivering provision in the first place – so even though most complaints are justified, local Send practice rarely improves. 'These complaints mostly describe incidents that happened in 2022 and 2023. The Send system has got a lot worse since then, and there's no sign that things are starting to get better.' Many of the complaints regard delays in creating education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which set out the legally required provision to meet a Send child's needs. Only half of all EHCPs are produced within the 20-week legal time limit. In one complaint upheld by the LGO in 2024, Suffolk council took 18 months to create an EHCP, with the complainant's daughter missing out on education during that time. Overall, there were 1,527 Send complaints to the LGO last year including cases that were not upheld, compared with 1,086 in 2023 and 391 in 2021. The success rate of complainants has remained relatively consistent during that time. 'We know there are significant issues with the wider system for Send children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families,' said Amerdeep Somal, the local government and social care ombudsman. 'The system is broken and we know this situation will not be resolved without sweeping changes. Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion 'The recommendations we make are fair and pragmatic. In some cases we have required a local authority to provide us with an action plan on how they will improve their services for children with special educational needs where we have found significant and recurrent fault. 'We track compliance with all the recommendations we make, and we will take further action if there is a failure to comply. In the overwhelming majority of cases (more than 99%) we are satisfied the authority has put in place the improvements we have required.' The Department for Education said it was investing £1bn into the Send system and an additional £740m into creating specialist school places. 'In a system that is too skewed towards specialist provision and over-reliant on EHC plans, we know families are too often forced to fight to get the right support,' a spokesperson said. 'We are determined to rebuild families' confidence in a system so many rely on. The reform families are crying out for will take time, but with a greater focus on mainstream provision and more early intervention, we will deliver the change that is so desperately needed.'
