A catalogue of failures by Bristol City Council to provide education for youngsters with SEND has led to watchdogs upholding nine complaints in the last seven months at a cost of more than £15,000 compensation, it can be revealed. Several of the children and young people with special needs and disabilities were left without adequate teaching and support for months while their education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which the authority is responsible for setting out what should be provided, suffered long delays, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) found.
The council insists it is “not an outlier” in terms of SEND rulings by the ombudsman and says the most recent Ofsted reinspection recognised it is improving its services. It says it takes its responsibilities “very seriously” and learns what changes are needed in the wake of every investigation by the watchdog.
Between last August and the LGO’s most recently published rulings in March 2023, nine complaints from parents and carers have been upheld against the city council’s SEND provision, of which the four most recent were all decided in March. The authority was found to have caused “distress and frustration” and “significant injustice”, while poor communication and delays in its responses to parents was a recurring theme.
