Cambridgeshire County Council has been told it must pay a dad £1,800 after its faults delayed his child’s start at secondary school.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) said delays and poor communication had caused "distress, uncertainty and frustration" for the family.

The LGO added that the child’s social development had also been impacted by the delay to them starting secondary school.

The county council said it had apologised to the family and is "fully committed" to addressing the issues raised by the ombudsman.

The dad, referred to as Mr X in the LGO report, complained to the ombudsman about the county council’s handling of his child’s education since an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan annual review in September 2022.

His child, referred to as Y in the LGO report, had been due to transition to secondary school in September 2022.

The child has special educational needs and the EHC Plan set out the specialist provision they were entitled to.

Mr X had requested for Y to be kept at their primary school for an extra year to give them more time to mature, with the hope they could then start at a mainstream secondary school in year seven in September 2023, a year behind their chronological age group.

The ombudsman said Y did stay in their school for the 2022/23 academic year and an annual review of their EHC Plan was conducted in September 2022.

The county council decided to amend the plan, but the LGO said the authority’s communication with Mr X after this point was "poor" leading to the dad having to chase for updates.

The ombudsman report said the county council also delayed in consulting with potential secondary schools who could accept Y from September 2023.

The county council did eventually ask a school to take on Y to start in year seven in January 2024, however the school raised concerns about this and only offered to place Y in year eight, their chronological year.

The school raised a complaint with the Secretary of State for Education which was upheld leading to Y starting secondary school after Easter in year eight.

The ombudsman said records show the transition was positive and that Y has settled well.

The county council told the LGO that it accepted shortcomings in the consultation process and that there were gaps in how it communicated with Mr X.

It said delays following the September 2022 annual review were down to staffing capacity and a backlog in processing paperwork.

The ombudsman said the county council’s delays in issuing an amended EHC Plan for Y, and the delays in consulting with secondary schools were faults.

However, the ombudsman said it could not hold the council at fault for the delay to Y starting secondary school between January and April 2024, as this had been due to the complaint being raised by the school.

The ombudsman said: "The faults identified have all contributed to the delay in Y transitioning to secondary school.

"Had the council carried out the annual review process in a timely manner, consulted schools without delay earlier in 2023 and properly communicated with Mr X it is likely, on balance, that Y would have started at secondary school in September 2023.

"Earlier consultation may also have led to Y being able to start secondary school in year seven, a year below their chronological age, in line with Mr X’s wishes.

"While Y continued to be educated at all times, it is their social development which impacted them the most.

"The faults have caused Y distress and uncertainty as well as affecting their social development."

The ombudsman also said there had been a “significant impact” on Mr X, due to him having to “continuously chase the council” for updates, and facing uncertainty about his child’s future at secondary school.

The county council was ordered to pay Mr X £1,500 in recognition of the “distress and uncertainty” Y experienced and the impact on their education and social development.

The authority was also told to pay Mr X £300 to acknowledge the “distress, uncertainty and time and trouble caused” by the county council’s faults.

The ombudsman recognised the county council had already put in place some improvements to prevent a similar situation happening again.

However, the LGO said it still wanted more information from the authority on its actions to improve its SEND service, including on the recruitment of more staff; the implementation of a new case management system; and improvements to its consultation process with schools.

A spokesperson for the county council said: “We accept the ombudsman’s findings and have apologised to the complainant for the shortcomings identified.

“We are fully committed to addressing the issues raised and are on track to implement the recommended actions to ensure improved outcomes.

“Our focus remains on delivering high quality services that meet the needs of the children, young people and the community.

“We currently maintain more than 8,000 EHC Plans and, while incidents such as this are rare, the lessons we have learned will help us to minimise the risk of anything similar happening again.”