Bracknell council pays mum £4,000 after son misses year of school

The issue has been described as “a huge oversight and failing” by the mother, whose son was out of school from November 2018 to October 2019 due to medical issues.

Bracknell Forest Council admitted it made mistakes in its failure to provide education for the boy and has since undertaken a review of its provision for children out-of-school with illnesses.

This came as the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), a councils watchdog, found fault with the way BFC responded to the boy’s situation.

READ MORE: Bracknell Council pays mother £500 over home-to-school issue

What happened?

The boy, who has special educational needs and suffers from high levels of anxiety, was attending a primary school in the borough until November 2018, when his anxiety and ‘self-harming behaviour’ prevented him from being able to attend.

Time Square houses Bracknell Forest Council

He was diagnosed with autism in December 2018 and Bracknell Forest Council agreed to conduct an education health and care assessment.

Despite this, his mother continued to provide the school with sick notes from her son’s GP signing him off ill with anxiety caused by his autism.

This carried on until May 2019, when Bracknell Forest Council finally published its education, health and care assessment for the boy.

It stated that he should be ‘gradually’ re-introduced to an ‘appropriate education setting’, but did not list a school suitable for him.

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The mother said she wished for her son to be placed at a specialist school.

It was proposed in September 2019 that the boy started receiving tuition as part of his phased re-introduction to education but his mother was not happy with the proposed arrangements, so home tuition began in October 2019.

Eventually, the boy was transferred to a specialist residential school for pupils with autism in 2020.

What was the fallout from this?

Following this, the mother complained to the council, asking why it had only offered her son tuition in September 2019 when he had been out of school since November 2018, and why it failed to name a suitable school in his EHC assessment.

In response, the council argued that as he was still technically on-roll at his former primary school, they should have been providing his education.

File photo dated 26/01/12 of school pupils. A survey published by Ditch the Label suggests that witnessing bullying is leaving many young people feeling stressed and scared, but many are unlikely to do anything to stop it happening. PRESS ASSOCIATION

With the matter unresolved the mother contacted the Local Government Ombudsman, a council watchdog, about the issues her family had faced.

READ MORE: Bracknell Forest Council apologises to 'badly let down' family

Following the Ombudsman’s intervention, Bracknell Forest Council accepted that when it became clear the boy’s absence was going to continue for more than 15 days, it should have provided alternate education for him.

It also accepted it did not recognise its legal responsibilities towards him, and that it lacked a policy statement on this particular issue.

As a result of these admissions, the council took the following actions:

-Sent a personal apology to the mother for failing to provide education for their son

-Paid the mother £4,200 as compensation for the lack of education for her son

-Paid her an extra £500 to recognise its failures in following proper procedures and its trouble in following-up her complaint.

File photo dated 27/11/2019 of school children in a classroom, around 415 schools in England are described as "stuck" in a cycle of low performance, meaning they have not achieved a "good" or "outstanding" report by the watchdog since September

As well as this, BFC also decided to carry out a thorough review of its systems for identifying and supporting pupils who are absent from school for medical reasons and would have a new policy in place on the matter following the review.

Following a review of the dispute, an LGO investigator stated: “I have found fault in the way the Council dealt with education provision for Y while he was unable to attend school for medical reasons.

“I am satisfied with the action the Council has agreed to take to remedy the injustice caused.”

READ MORE: Bracknell mum cared for 'suicidal' autistic son without council support

What has the mother had to say about the issue?

The LGO’s investigation was published in November 2020 but now the mother of the affected boy has spoken out about the council’s handling of her son’s education.

Preferring to remain anonymous, she said: “'I am really pleased that the Ombudsman found Bracknell Forest Council at fault for unlawfully failing to provide my son with education when he was no longer able to attend his mainstream school due to his Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

Time Square, home of Bracknell Forest Council

“I truly hope that this finding means that any other child within the area who is also unable to attend their school will now be provided with alternative provision that meets their needs.

“This was a huge oversight and failing by BFC involving some of the most vulnerable children in the area.

“It is disappointing, however, that it took LGO involvement to get the Council to accept this huge failing.

READ MORE: LGO report reveals complaints made against Bracknell Forest Council

“I am looking forward to being able to read BFC’s policy as to how they will now comply with their legal duty towards children who are unable to attend school.

'A very big question remains which is how long this has been happening to the children within Bracknell Forest, how many children have been affected, how many are currently being affected, and what is being done to quickly identify those children who are currently affected?

“I would urge any parents whose child is not able to attend their school for at least 15 days, and who is not being provided with education, to contact BFC to make them aware.”

Lulu Byrne aged 13 and Maisy Byrne aged 15 take part in home schooling, studying mathmatics, english and sciences from their home in Liverpool as schools reopen after the Easter break, but classroom attendance is limited to the children of key workers

What does the council say?

The News asked Bracknell Forest Council to comment in light of the LGO’s findings.

Rachel Morgan, an education boss at the authority, said: “As part of the LGO investigation, the council admitted their fault within this case and suggested the remedy which the LGO subsequently recommended.

“The recommendations and learnings from the review have now been implemented and we appreciate[the mother’s] involvement in the learning review.

“The Council can confirm that Mrs X has received the payments recommended in the review but we do not feel it is in the best interest of [the mother’s] family, and particularly her child, to discuss the details further in public.”