Council criticised by Ombudsman after girl left without proper education for nine months

The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman has criticised Leeds City Council after a young girl went without proper education for nine months when she started refusing to go to her primary school because of anxiety.

The background to the LGO’s investigation was that the girl, who was 10 when the events started, had become increasingly anxious about going to school until the school asked her mother to take her home because she was so distressed.

The Ombudsman said that over the next nine months, the girl was given little education – and at one point her mother had to fund an alternative education placement.

When the girl eventually started engaging with the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) it suggested she had sensory processing difficulties and recommended gathering information for diagnostic tests.

The LGO said that Leeds failed to have a policy in place for children missing education because of ill health. This lack of policy led to the girl’s situation ‘drifting’, it said.

The council was also found to have failed to maintain oversight of the targeted support clusters – local groups set up to oversee the council’s duties to children out of education. This meant the council was not informed at the earliest stage the girl was not attending school.

Following the investigation the council has agreed to:

• pay the mother £1,300 to cover the cost of her daughter’s education over the period;
• pay her £1,400 for failing to assess her daughter’s needs or provide education between May 2018 and October 2018;
• pay a further £200 for the time and trouble of bringing the complaint to the Ombudsman;
• review the way it oversees services for children and young people out of school;
• provide training and guidance to staff, schools and services;
• create a policy for children missing education for medical needs; and
• review the educational provision in place for children who have not attended school for more than 15 days.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “Councils have a legal duty to provide suitable alternative provision for children and young people who are missing education for whatever reason.

“In this case, Leeds City Council did not have the proper processes in place, and the lack of a policy resulted in a young girl missing nine months of formal education. Instead of receiving an alternative at the earliest possible time, her case was left to drift.

“I welcome Leeds City Council’s commitment to agreeing to my recommendations and hope the processes it will put in place will ensure other children will not be disadvantaged in a similar way in future.”