A North London council left a teenager without education support for over two years following a court battle over his “complex” care needs.
The 17-year-old boy, known only as ‘Y’, missed out on home-based support for his autism, dyslexia and social skills to which he was legally entitled – partly due to Camden Council’s failed attempt to overturn its obligations.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) ruled that the council caused injustice to both the teenager and his mother, ‘Miss X’, who experienced “significant distress” during her struggle to get her son support.
A back-and-forth began in 2022 when the council appealed a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) tribunal’s decision mandating that the boy receive an ‘Education Otherwise Than At School’ (EOTAS) package. The local authority disputed the entire package, arguing that the court made a mistake and that he should be educated in a school setting.
For several months the case was left in limbo as the appeal process suspended the council’s legal obligation to offer the support. The appeal was thrown out in September 2023.
The watchdog noted that after this the council went to great lengths to accommodate the Boy Y’s needs, including hiring a dedicated officer in 2024 specifically for managing “complex” education health and care plan (EHCP) cases.
Yet while the Ombudsman recognised “significant” difficulties in facilitating Speech and Language Therapies (SLT) for him at home, it found the council was still at fault for failing to deliver its statutory duty completely.
It was not until May 2025 that the boy received all the interventions listed in his original plan. These missing services included:
- 15 hours of online lessons per week
- 2.5 hours of specialist dyslexia provision and Speech and Language Therapy (SLT)
- Mentoring through gaming and social stories
- 1 hour of physical activity per week
The report also criticised the council’s “confused” approach and “significant delays” in dealing with Miss X’s complaint, first lodged in October 2023. It was not until two years later that the council “revised its position” and admitted fault.
The watchdog said Camden forced the boy’s mother to wait “much longer than necessary” for the council to resolve the issues, and noted her frustration and confusion at the Town Hall changing its position.
Camden was ordered to pay the family £13,860 to cover the years of lost special educational provision and for “time and trouble caused by the delays with complaint handling”.
The council also reimbursed the mother £24,180 for private tutoring costs she incurred between October 2022 and October 2023.
The LGSCO asked that Camden review its complaint-handling process within three months of the ruling handed down on November 25, 2025.
Responding to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), a Camden Council spokesperson said: “We would like to again extend our apologies to the family for the distress caused. We recognise the impact that the failure to deliver the child’s full educational provision had on both the child and their parent in this case, and we are committed to putting it right.
“We have acted on the recommendations made by the Ombudsman, including offering to meet with the family to review the child’s ongoing education and providing the family with suitable compensation.
“We are also strengthening our processes to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future, as part of our commitment to provide all children and young people with special educational needs access to the best possible care and support.”
