Councils in UK breaking the Law

[bevington]

Under the 2104 Children and Families Act 2014

Councils have certain Statutory directives regarding children who are not in education, for whatever reason.

 

 

My daughter has been out of education for three years with separation anxiety

brought about by her mother's domestic violence.

 

 

Under the Act the Council are supposed to have provided 'alternative education' for her.

The Act says they must work with schools/colleges to identify children in need

and consult with them/their parents and other professional

to provide alternatives suitable to their needs.

 

 

Under the Equality Act and SEN regulations she is now classed as 'disabled and with SEN needs.

However to date the Council have not followed any of the statutory directives.

They have not even contacted me about her.

 

I have complained to them.

No result.

 

 

I have complained to the Local Government Ombudsman.

No result.

 

 

I have complained to the Ministry of Education, told it was not their remit.

 

 

How can I get them brought to task and get my daughter compensation for loss of education resulting from their not following the law?

 

 

All over the UK there are families in the same situation.

[Ethel Street]

It would be helpful to to have a bit more information.

 

-- How old is your daughter?

 

-- Have you been Home Educating her for the last 3 years?

 

-- Does she have an Education Health and Care Plan [EHCP] (what was previously an SEN Statement)? If so what school does it name? If not have you requested an EHCP assessment and with what result.

 

-- What do you mean by 'alternative education'? Alternative to what? Unless an EHCP identifies alternative provision - ie, placement in a provision that isn't a mainstream school - the council's general duty would be to ensure a place in a mainstream school. Have you applied for a place in a mainstream school, and with what result?

 

-- What response did you get from LGO? 'No result' is too vague to comment on. What exactly did they say? Can you post up their reply with identifying details removed?

 

-- You say your daughter is classed as disabled under the Equality Act 2010. Do the Council accept she is disabled under the Act, ie that her separation anxiety is a physical or mental impairment? Has she had a clinical diagnosis confirming that she is disabled? Did the diagnosis identify what 'reasonable adjustments' should be made?

[bevington]

She is now just 17. It all started when she was 14.

She is on roll at a local college but due to anxiety she starts to vomit every day so doesn't attend. As it would be with any conventional education. No one from the Council has ever contacted us about her non-attendance.

We applied for an EHP, which got lost. Complained to Local Govt. Ombudsman who could do much except tell them off.

Alternative as in Online Virtual Academy .

My daughter is disabled as she fulfills the requirements of the Equality Act.

She is SEN for the same reason.

The Council have been aware of her difficulty since 2014 when I contacted them for help. I got nothing and no advice or directions like, 'local offer'. I had heard nothing then for 18 months.

CAMHS diagnosed anxiety on private referral. A local Charity dealing with children from Domestic Violence did also.

I am waiting the LGO to respond my last complaint but isn't he toothless. I want to make the Council to be punished for breaking the law as in statutory directives.

[citizenB]

bevington, I have moved your thread to Special needs - I think you will attract more attention there. You need do nothing, it was purely an administrative move.

[Ethel Street]

The LGO has powers but you need to see what his adjudication is about your current complaint. Did LGO investigate your complaint that "We applied for an EHP, which got lost"?

 

Are you sure that your daughter is still on roll at the college if she hasn't attended for 3 years? Seems odd that Council never followed up her non-attendance, but possibly the college didn't tell them? It would be the college's duty to follow up non-attendance initially, did they? Could the college have just taken her off roll? She's past statutory school age so doesn't have to be at school or college, although 16-18 year olds are supposed to be in employment, education or training of some sort.

 

Does council accept she has SEN? Having a disability doesn't automatically mean she has SEN.

 

It's not clear that the council have broken any laws, but it would need much more detail than you can publish here to know. The Council has a duty(since September 2014) to publish the Local Offer, but that's an information website to allow you to identify SEND provision and take steps to access. The Council are obliged to support you in doing that and it sounds as if their failure to do that is part of your complaint to the LGO. I don't believe they are under a duty to seek you out and make offers to you.though. Which section of the Children and Families Act 2014 do you believe the Council has broken?

[Ethel Street]

A further thought bevington, have you been in touch with local SEND parent support groups? How to find them should be on the Council's Local Offer page? They'll be able to help you more than we can here because you can go into it in much more detail with them. I can understand why you are keen to punish the Council and claim compensation from them but I don't know whether you have any legal grounds for that. Citizen's Advice might be able to help.

 

At this stage I would be more concerned about getting your daughter into an education provision than with punishing the Council. It sounds like she has no formal GCSEs or qualifications as a result of not attending college. As your daughter has a disability and maybe SEN too you could take your claim to the SEND Tribunal, but that's something you really need to take advice on from Citizen's Advice and local SEN groups or SEN legal charities.

 

Forgot to ask in last reply, when you say "We applied for an EHP, which got lost. Complained to Local Govt. Ombudsmanicon who could do much except tell them off", I'd expect LGO to direct Council to reconsider your request for ECHP for your daughter. Did the LGO direct that? It's seems unlikely Council would ignore the LGO adjudication or lose your request a second time. What did the Council say? Did they carry out an assessment? If not what was their reason for not doing so?

[bevington]

Thanks for the reply you obviously know your stuff. Under the Code of Practice Children and Families Act it says,' the early identification of children and young people's needs and early intervention to support them'. Didn't happen. Also collaboration between education, health and social care services to provide support. Didn't happen.

 

Both are statutory directives and if not done since they are statutory then surely the law is broken ? I recently took my daughter off the College roll, she hadn't attended for 18 months.

 

My daughter has not had a formal diagnosis of SEN or being disabled but fulfills all the criteria in the Acts. ( a physical or mental impairment that has a long term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities)( SEN has a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind provided for others of the same age) In the statutory guidance 2015 children missing education part of the introduction says: Local Authorities should have a robust procedure and policies in place to meet their duty in relation to children missing education. Didn't happen.

 

Also section 436A of the Education Act 1996 has been ignored. Local Authorities must: arrange suitable full time education for children of compulsory school age who because of illness would not receive suitable education. For the two years of the time this applied to my daughter and was never done. At the onset of this problem 2014 I contacted the Council for help; spoke with a Senior Education Welfare Officer and the Councils specially dedicated Children's Officer and never heard any more.

 

My contact with MARU advised me to Home Ed ( illegal ?) I have for three years been unaware of the 'Local Offer'. No one has ever directed me to it and the code of practice says it must be accessible and readily available. Can't be if you don't know it exists. My daughter is covered I think by the law to age 25.

 

Is that correct?

Edited February 24, 2016 by Andyorch
Paras

[BazzaS]

Under the 2104 Children and Families Act 2014

Councils have certain Statutory directives regarding children who are not in education, for whatever reason.

 

 

My daughter has been out of education for three years with separation anxiety

brought about by her mother's domestic violence.

 

 

Under the Act the Council are supposed to have provided 'alternative education' for her.

The Act says they must work with schools/colleges to identify children in need

and consult with them/their parents and other professional

to provide alternatives suitable to their needs.

 

 

Under the Equality Act and SEN regulations she is now classed as 'disabled and with SEN needs.

However to date the Council have not followed any of the statutory directives.

They have not even contacted me about her.

 

I have complained to them.

No result.

 

 

I have complained to the Local Government Ombudsman.

No result.

 

 

I have complained to the Ministry of Education, told it was not their remit.

 

 

How can I get them brought to task and get my daughter compensation for loss of education resulting from their not following the law?

 

 

All over the UK there are families in the same situation.

 

What does your daughter (& you) want as an achievable / realistic outcome?

[bevington]

I want three things.

1) An EHP plan put in place with funding for an online virtual academy (NISAI) Also a personal budget.

2) I want the Council to compensate my daughter for the time they 'neglected' her.

3) The Council to totally implement their statutory duty with regard to children outside education for reasons of disability and illness and exclusions and to be more transparent in its process.

[Ethel Street]

I work quite a lot with the education system bevington but I'm definitely not a SEND expert!

 

You are correct that Councils' SEND/EHCP duties now run up to age 25, and that Council's have a duty to have robust procedures for children missing education [CME], but note that the latter duty only applies to children of compulsory school age (ie up to 16). Post-16, Councils now have a separate duty to ensure that 16 - 18 year olds are participating in education, employment or training. It's known as the Raising the Participation Age [RPA] duty and there's info on this link if you haven't seen it. The CME duty is more robust than RPA, mainly because the focus of CME is safeguarding and child protection, whilst RPA is about developing employability skills.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/349300/Participation_of_Young_People_Statutory_Guidance.pdf

 

Time is critical for your daughter in getting her into appropriate education and I would give that priority over holding the council to account for past failures. Time is ticking away and she's already just turned 17. On the face of it there is a clear path you should follow. You want the Council to carry out an EHC needs assessment and you want them to fund a placement at NISAI. From what you've posted that sounds an entirely reasonable request that the Council must properly consider. They shouldn't ignore it or dismiss out of hand. If they do, or if they don't agree to issue an EHCP, or they issue an EHCP that you don't agree with, I'd go straight to the SEND Tribunal. Tribunal judges have wide powers to issue directives to the Council, and many cases to SEND Tribunal are appeals against Councils refusing EHCP assessments or refusing to fund appropriate provision. There are quite a few voluntary organisation out there supporting parents in taking cases to Tribunal. IPSEA is best known one nationally (see link) but I hear they are swamped with requests for help so it can take some time before you can see them. You might need to research other parent support groups or voluntary legal organisations. There are timelimits for bringing SEND Tribunal claims so don't delay.

 

https://www.ipsea.org.uk/contact/advice-and-support/tribunal-helpline

 

Also GOV.UK advice: https://www.gov.uk/special-educational-needs-disability-tribunal/overview

 

I wouldn't waste time with LGO complaints because of the Tribunal time-limits. I imagine you know that LGO can only look at a Council's administrative processes, not at the merits of their decision, so an LGO adjudication most likely would just tell Council to go back and reconsider your needs assessment properly. LGO can't overturn a Council's refusal to issue an EHCP if the Council has followed its procedures correctly, but a SEND Tribunal can. LGO's remit re SEND here

 

http://www.lgo.org.uk/publications/fact-sheets/complaints-about-special-educational-needs/

 

Compensation and action against Council for past failings is not really my field, you may need to talk to Citizens Advice or a solicitor. I don't know who MARU are, a support or advisory group of some sort I assume. I doubt it's ever illegal to advise Home Education but it's not appropriate unless parents are willing and capable of delivering it. BTW, Local Offer duty is relatively new, only became mandatory from September 2014.

[bevington]

Thank you very much very useful and reinforces what I knew,plus extra stuff I shall follow up very grateful. Cheers great site.

[Conniff]

You keep mentioning 'Compensation' when that should be the last thing mentioned. Any letters with that in it will be treated as someone wanting money first and maybe education as well.

 

Forget the compensation, get the other things sorted and then go about seeing if you are entitled to any compensation.

[bevington]

You misunderstand my motivation. If they have to pay for their mistake then maybe, just maybe they will be a bit more careful. The other things like getting an education for her and a personal budget are the priority. Everything else is secondary. Sorry if I sounded mercenary.