The Isle of Wight Council has been fined and forced to apologise after it was found to have wrongly removed the health care support of a boy with medical needs.
An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ruled the council failed to clarify a decision made by a tribunal in May 2019.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Tribunal agreed the boy should have an air conditioning unit at home, a mobile unit for his overnight respite stays, visual aids, adaptations to his home and school, and support with hospital visits.
However the council disputed this, and instead of clarifying the tribunal's instructions, it went ahead and removed the health provision from the boy’s plan, before issuing a final Education Health and Care (EHCP) Plan.
It was only when the boy's mother raised concerns in November 2019, that the council contacted the tribunal.
The council has been since agreed to fit an air conditioning unit at the boy’s respite placement and has offered financial assistance for him to attend his medical appointments.
Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:
"The council knew the correct way forward was to clarify the uncertainty it had about the Tribunal's instructions, but instead ploughed ahead and removed it.
“The council did clarify the position and has since put the health support in place, but this was only after the mother challenged the final version of the plan. Had it done the right thing sooner, the boy would not have been without the support, to which he is entitled, for as long.
“I am pleased the council has now proposed to accept my recommendations to apologise to the family and provide some simple measures to ensure this sort of discrepancy does not occur again, but it is disappointing it has only decided to do this at a late stage of the investigation.”
The council has been told to apologise to the family for its failure to clarify the tribunal’s actions.
To recognise the distress and anxiety caused by the unnecessary delay in agreeing support, the local authority has also been ordered to pay the boy £150, and the mother £150.
The Ombudsman has ruled that training or reminders should be provided to ensure staff seek to clarify any discrepancies in tribunal decisions at the time the decision is issued.
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