Hackney Council ordered to pay £4,500 for autistic boy's lost education

Hackney Council has been ordered to pay £4,500 in compensation to an autistic boy after significant delays meant he missed months of education. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the council failed in its legal duty to arrange alternative education for the child.

The boy, identified only as Y, received an autism diagnosis in March 2023 but had been out of school for a substantial period. His father, Mr X, formally requested that Hackney Council begin an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment in July 2024. Despite being aware the boy was not attending school, the council took several months to consider whether to arrange alternative education, a failure in its duty under the Education Act 1996.

Legal duties and council failings

Local authorities are legally required to support children not attending school, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). For children with an EHC plan, councils have an ongoing duty to arrange specified support. The law states that councils must inform parents within six weeks if they agree to assess a child for an EHC plan, and the plan itself should be completed within 20 weeks of the request.

While Hackney Council met the deadline for completing the boy's EHC plan, it failed to include an agreed "education other than at school" (EOTAS) package until January 2025, even though Mr X had requested it before November. The Ombudsman determined that during this extended period, the council "conflated" Mr X's request for EOTAS with its own responsibility to provide alternative education. This resulted in the boy losing approximately a school term's worth of teaching.

Further delays occurred even after the boy's entitlement to funded tuition was confirmed. He spent another half term without any teaching because the council's allocated budget of £75 per hour made it difficult to find suitable tutors. The watchdog described this as a "service failure by the council."

Complaint response and compensation

When Mr X later lodged a complaint with Hackney Council, the authority missed its own internal deadline for a stage 1 response, which should have been provided within two months. The council apologised for this oversight and offered the family £200 to acknowledge the "time and trouble and distress and inconvenience" caused. However, the Ombudsman found this initial offer insufficient, concluding that the council's delays in arranging the alternative education package caused "avoidable distress" to the child and his family.

The Ombudsman recommended that Hackney Council issue a formal apology and pay a total of £4,500. This compensation comprises £3,000 for the delay in incorporating the alternative education provision into the boy's EHC plan and £1,500 for the subsequent failure to deliver the tuition.

Council's future plans

A spokesperson for Hackney Council stated that the authority recognises the failings identified in the Ombudsman's report and expressed regret for the distress caused. The council is currently implementing new systems designed to identify children missing school due to illness, absence, exclusion, or suspension at an earlier stage. These changes will incorporate the Ombudsman's findings and aim to improve engagement with schools and families to resolve issues promptly.

The council also plans to establish a new inclusion panel to enhance oversight of children not attending school. Furthermore, Hackney Council has recently introduced a complaints handling improvement plan, including staff training and enhanced tracking mechanisms, to increase investigation capacity and expedite complaint resolutions.