Aibu to think the local government ombudsman should do better than offering “remedy”, and actually offer something more akin to compensation?

[KeepOnSwimming2000]

So many children have been out of school due to SEN needs. Local governments are not doing their bit under Section 19 to accommodate educating those children.

Multiple parents - let’s face it predominantly the mothers - are losing their jobs, pensions, financial stability - because of the failure of local authorities to deliver their legal duties.

If parents successfully manage to get through LGO processes and get “remedy” for missed education, this is likely to be small potatoes compared to the costs incurred and the financial wellbeing of a parent who has been unable to work.

If it is cheap for a council to provide a remedy which is small potatoes and is not likely to cover a parent’s actual expenses, then councils do not have any real incentive to care about discharging their duties.

AIBU to think that these remedies are not fit for purpose and won’t provide an incentive for councils to deliver? Aibu to think the LGO should compensate rather than provide remedy?

Your suggestion is for them to compensate financially

when the situation is as a result of them not having sufficient finances to ensure all those in need are helped

ok

They can't afford to provide the service and you want to take more from the budget?

Yeah, I don't think compensation is an option with budgets being what they are.

Extra time/services/support to make up for the lost time would be more appropriate but again, suspect the cuts would make this difficult.

What a tough situation, I hope your DC start getting what they need. Good luck

you haven’t thought this through have you Op, in any shape or form whatsoever

As someone who has won SEN LGO cases what we are lacking is lessons learned. As per previous replies show, the problem is that no one gives a shiney shit.

Pay now or pay later. There's always a cost to non education.

The Ombudsman in general doesn’t penalise or adequately compensate. That’s what the courts are for.

Ombudsmen only really function with relatively narrow and specialist remits (and even then most of them barely function). A straightforward complaint can take many months to consider if you're very lucky. There is no way any of the public sector ombudsmen could reasonably have the resources or expertise to consider the wider financial impact individuals may have suffered. Even if they did recommend compensation, their decisions aren't binding.

The sort of compensation you are looking for could only be awarded by a court.

I disagree with previous posters on budgets though - being short of cash is absolutely not a legitimate reason to not have to compensate parties you harm through breach of statutory duty.

I don't know what that would look like OP or how financially feasible it would be for LA's to fairly compensate families like ours that have been devastated by the lack of educational provision but I do feel your pain.

My daughter went without a school place for the entirety of 2023 and it has just been revealed that our LA did in fact only spend 9% of their SEN funding last year.

We are one of the "lucky" ones though - I put in an official complaint with the LA and eventually on the LGO's guidelines, they "compensated" us with £5500 - given that I have now been out of work for 2 years, it is barely a drop in the ocean.

But hey, we didn't need to go to court and she now does have a specialist setting - after waiting a further 3 months for home to school transport materialise!

Perhaps if SEN education had been properly funded this past decade and more, then local authorities wouldn't now be in this predicament.

The local authorities don’t even bother replying to emails or returning calls. The director of children’s services’ secretary is incredibly arrogant and rude.

They don’t give a shiny shit.

I am fed up with SEN kids being blamed for eating up budgets. No one bemoans that the council cannot afford to get bins emptied as it’s too expensive or do one of their 1000 other statutory duties in the way that they bemoan SEND kids getting the support they are legally entitled to..

That’s a major issue. That £5000 is a drop in the ocean with lost earnings. The £1000 I received is also a drop in the ocean.

It isn’t enough when people have been financially impacted or lost their jobs. It is particularly unfair on anyone more financially vulnerable or close to the edge; many of whom will have lost jobs etc.

It feels like a slap in the face when every communication was routinely ignored for many many months and you have been left to deal with a very vulnerable and distressed child who has an EHCP and now has been left to languish with no friends or educational support.

What court process is that?

Yes. When I moved to our now LA in Jan of 2023, I was straight onto the case of requesting a reassessment of needs. I believe the deadline to let us if they had any intention of a reassessment is 6 weeks - our previous LA had already sent the new LA a copy of the EHCP ' but they didn't respond for at least 16 weeks. I requested, then, that they needed to put in alternative educational provision since they had been quiet on her case completely. Her case handler changed a good few times. I requested a tutor in Feb/March time but this didn't materialise until late June/early July. Around the same time of requesting a tutor, I self referred to SALT on the NHS. But I heard nothing back at all until I contacted the service last December, who admitted we had slipped through the net but even with that almost 12 month wait, my daughter still wouldn't have been seen yet. My own mental health was so bad, I had a breakdown last summer and still recovering now. Not funding SEN provisions properly does indeed cost the country mor - whether that be a less skilled future workforce or a strain on mental health services.

I don't think people are blaming SEND kids for the lack of a budget- in fact I'd say the opposite. It's disgusting that they aren't getting the support and funding they require.

The facts are though that Central Govn has cut Local Govn funding year on year with no cut in the statutory obligations they deliver. SEND support, adult social care, fostering allowances etc are all struggling because of this lack of funding. Adding Compensation on top of that just isn't feasible.

I would disagree. There’s a constant spate of media coverage about SEN kids and what is spent on them and how councils cannot afford it. I’m sure the tories hope to strip back further on the provision they have got.

Where would the money come from for compensation? Straight out of the budget so there’s less to spend on support? There just isn’t the money or the resources available so what can the authorities do? When some SEN school places are costing £50k + a year where is this money coming from? It’s just not feasible to spend this on every child.

You’re being ridiculous. They have a budget to deliver services. If we extend your line of thought, money could be saved by ripping up their education entirely. And that is what is happening at the moment. Vulnerable kids are being left high and dry all over the country.

YANBU OP, and yes the remedies the LGO secure are often a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of the provision that should have been put in place years earlier. However, as a previous poster said, the LGO is limited by the legislation and guidance that govern its powers. You’d be best off lobbying your MP to strengthen those (making compliance with recommendations a statutory requirement would be a start)

place marking for a more civilised hour when I’m more awake!

Financial penalties makes sense though, because of incentives.

It would ensure that delivering on the legal obligation is cheaper than not doing so.

That's a sensible arrangement, unless we are saying that provision shouldn't be a priority relative to all the other demands on the authority -- but that's a separate debate.

Sounds like that £50k should go directly to the parents while they await the place.