Council ordered to compensate family of SEND pupil

A local authority has been ordered to pay thousands to a family after it failed to provide school transport to a special educational needs and disability (SEND) student.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) said the student missed out on education and specialist support he was entitled to.

North Northamptonshire Council must repay his family £5,800 for a lack of suitable provision between 2024 and 2025.

The Reform UK-controlled authority said it accepted the LGSCO's findings and offered its "sincerest apology".

The report referred to the student as Mr Z and said he had stopped attending college after becoming frustrated with the lack of council-arranged transport.

The council said it had started to make changes to its home-to-school transport with the aim of reducing the risk of a similar issue occurring again.

An October 2024 tribunal ruled Mr Z was entitled to transport provided by the council, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

In February 2025, the council told his mother, referred to as Mrs X, that she needed to apply for transportation.

She said it took 13 weeks for the application to be processed, and she was informed of different reasons for the failure to provide transportation.

In response to a complaint about the lack of provision, the council agreed to arrange taxi transport for the start of the academic year in September 2025.

However, Mrs X said the council failed to do this and her son decided he no longer wished to attend college at the end of the year.

The ombudsman report stated this caused him "injustice" because he was not able to receive the education and the extra support, including Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), Occupational Therapy and physiotherapy, that he was entitled to in his EHCP.

A council spokesperson said: "We recognise that we have fallen short of the performance our families have a right to expect of us.

"We are continuing to work with the family, to ensure that the child receives education which best suits their needs."

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