Sept 28, 2023, London News: Council fined £5.8K [$7,000] for failing to provide girl with school transport https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/council-fined-5-8k-for-failing-to-provide-girl-with-school-transport/
A council has been told to pay nearly £6,000 [$7,000] to a resident after failing to provide transport to school for his daughter with special needs for 9 months.
Bromley council has been fined by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman over the failure, according to a report published last month.
The report said the resident, known as Mr X, had an 11-year-old daughter with autism, delays to her speech and language ability and behaviour which included spitting and kicking.
The council reportedly received an application from Mr X in July 2022 for travel assistance for his daughter.
The authority contacted eight providers for assisted travel between September and mid-November 2022.
They said Y needed a strong personal assistant and staff were required to have done appropriate training and use protective personal equipment due to the child’s “challenging behaviour”.
The report said the council did not receive a response from any provider.
Mr X complained to Bromley council in October 2022, saying the authority had left the transport responsibility to the family and providers had refused to assist Y due to her disability.
The authority arranged transport for Y from the end of November for the next two academic years and apologised for its delay.
They told Mr X to provide a receptacle for spitting and a parent to accompany Y for the first week of journeys.
The next day, the provider told the council that transport arrangements would be cancelled after she became distressed and kicked during the journey.
The council reached out to 12 more providers between December and April 2023 but received no response.
The report said: “In January 2023, the school contacted the council and expressed concern about Y’s low attendance and said it was unable to work towards the outcomes and targets set out in Y’s special educational needs plan.
It confirmed that Y had been attending school once a week, transported by her father, but his car had broken down which had “added to the difficulty”.
The council confirmed to the school that the child’s poor attendance was due to transport not being secured and it would focus on supporting Y’s educational needs at home while it resolved the issue.
The school reportedly sent educational material to Y’s home in April 2023, but Mr X said the council had not yet provided any resources for home-schooling.
Bromley council told the ombudsman that Y had attended school for seven days since the start of term in February 2023 due to her father giving her a lift. …
The ombudsman recognised the difficulties the council had in securing a transport provider but retained that the failure caused Y a significant injustice.
The authority was also criticised for not offering alternative education despite knowing Y was only attending school one day a week.
Bromley council was told to pay Mr X £5,800 for the education his daughter did not receive and the injustice caused.
The council was also told to provide additional therapy in speech and language to Y and show evidence that it had followed the recommendations.
Bromley council was approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.
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