Mother left £7k out of pocket after paying for therapy for her children while waiting for council to release funding

A mother from Somerset was left more than £7,000 out of pocket while she waited for the council to release funds for her children’s “much-needed” therapy, an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has found.

As a result of the Ombudsman's findings, the local authority has been recommended to pay the mother £1,000 to acknowledge the “significant distress and financial worry” she experienced, alongside repaying her the outstanding funds she has paid for her children to access support.

The mother behind the complaint, whose children’s special educational needs mean they have Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans, told the Ombudsman she had to fund the support herself while she waited for the agreed money to be paid.

This meant the children’s educational placements were put at risk when, having run out of credit, she could no longer afford to access the provision.

The nature of the children’s needs meant the therapy they required was outside of the council area.

Somerset had agreed to pay for travel and accommodation as well as the therapy.

The report noted: “Instead of paying the provision directly, the council agreed a ‘personal budget’ with the family, paid via an intermediary which should have then released the funds as and when the family needed them.

“However, the council delayed this payment, so the mother had to fund the provision – costing more than £7,000 – herself.”

The mother told the Ombudsman she had to chase both the council and intermediary to release the funds to her.

According to the Ombudsman, the council should - in addition to making the recommended payments - apologise to the mother and “reconsider how it pays her to ensure the agreed payments are made a term in advance”.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Amerdeep Somal, said: “Personal budgets should give parents flexibility to choose and fund the care agreed in their children’s EHC Plans.

“However, far from liberating the family, in this case the mother has been left with the stress and worry of not knowing if or when the money would be available. She has been forced to find large sums to provide the essential therapy her children needed – and the council has agreed they should receive.

“I am particularly concerned that, even when alerted to the issues the mother was facing, the council still failed to take any action to improve the situation.”

She added: “The council has now agreed to review how it delivers its direct payment plans to families, and to ensure training is provided to staff involved in their administration. I hope these improvements will ensure other families across the county are not left in the same position in future.”

A spokesperson for Somerset Council said: “We have accepted the Ombudsman’s recommendations and sincerely apologise to the family for any distress caused.

“We are committed to learning from all complaints and improving our services. Ofsted has consistently recognised in inspections the positive actions and improvements being made by the Council, and we continue to work diligently to support our children and young people.

“We have recently agreed with the Ombudsman’s office to regularly share our action plan for improvements in Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) services. Some of the many changes required by the Ombudsman will require huge change to our services at a time when budgets are under unprecedented pressure. Along with most other councils in the country, teams have been overwhelmed with the huge rise in SEND need since the pandemic which is now being recognised as a national crisis.

“Once again, we apologise for the distress caused and are dedicated to continuing to improve our services.”

Lottie Winson