Northumberland mum forced to home school child after council delays

The local government Ombudsman found fault with Northumberland County Council’s actions after the child’s mother, identified as Mrs X in the inspector’s report, complained and said she had been caused “distress, frustration and uncertainty”.

The council blamed the delays in issuing the child, known as Y, with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) on a shortage of educational psychologists. At the time the Ombudman’s report was published, the council had already apologised to Mrs X.

The issues arose in December 2022, when Y was struggling at school. Mrs X asked for an EHC assessment for her child. She asked for an update in April, and was told the council had been waiting for advice from an educational psychologist since mid-February.

At that time, the council apologised to Mrs X for the delay, and explained it was “struggling to meet” “increased demand” for EHC assessments.

Mrs X complained to the council about the delay in May, before an assessment by an educational psychologist was carried out in June – more than six months after Mrs X first requested assistance. Statutory guidance states that the whole process – from requesting an assessment to issuing a final plan – should take 20 weeks.

Y’s final EHCP was not issued until October – a delay of approximately 24 weeks. Mrs X said as a result of the delay, she had to educate Y at home.

The Ombudsman report read: “I recognise this was due to a national shortage of educational psychologists and not entirely within the council’s control.

“However, the Ombudsman can make findings of fault where there is a failure to provide a service, regardless of the reasons for that service failure.”

The report added that the council is currently taking “reasonable steps” to resolve the matter.

The inspector went on to say that they “could not say” whether the delay meant Y would have lost out on special educational provision, but did say that the delay caused Mrs X “distress and frustration”.

David Street, Director of Education, SEND and Skills at Northumberland County Council, acknowledged that rising numbers of children requiring an EHCP has put additional strain on the system.

The number of children with ECHPs rose from 1,679 in 2017 to 3,369 in 2023.

Mr Street said: “Supporting learners with Special Educational Needs is a key priority for the council.

“Most of this support is delivered by our highly inclusive school system, but some children with a SEND need may need further support outlined in an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

“Across the country, the number of learners with a special educational need has increased and Northumberland shares this pattern. This has led to an increase in those seeking an EHC plan and in addition some challenges in issuing new EHC plans as quickly as we would like to, including a national shortage of education psychologists.

“To increase the speed of our response, we have dramatically improved the efficiency of our team processes and engaged more Educational Psychologists. As a result, the SEND teams in Northumberland are dealing with more referrals and supporting more learners and their families than ever before.”