Central Beds Council apologises and pays £250 to mum of boy with special needs
A local authority has apologised and paid a Central Bedfordshire mother £250 after delays in completing an annual review for her son, who has special educational needs (SEN).
The resident complained Central Bedfordshire Council failed to provide her son with sufficient schooling or the provision in his education, health and care plan (EHCP), according to a local government watchdog.
She said it also delayed carrying out an annual review of the EHCP and ignored her emails, said a local government and social care ombudsman’s report.
“CBC’s actions had an impact on her son’s mental health and caused her distress, she claimed. She removed him from an independent school in October 2024, after an incident.
“The school informed the council in November. CBC gave the school six weeks’ notice on the placement and asked it to arrange alternative provision until then.
“Her son began receiving five hours education from a tutor with one provider and 10 hours mentoring from another. CBC took over funding this provision in January 2025.
“In February, the council’s specialist placement panel met. CBC arranged for another school to visit to decide whether it could offer her son a place. Following this visit, the panel agreed the required funding.
“She raised concerns about the failure to complete an annual review in 2024. The local authority said it would contact the relevant professionals to arrange the review.
“CBC held an annual review for the EHCP in May. It was arranged for her son to start at the school in June.” The council issued a final EHCP in October 2025, naming this school, explained the report.
“Having considered the EHCP in place in 2024, I’m satisfied most of the content relates to how staff interact with her son and encourage him to learn.
“I appreciate the provision in place for her son was more than he was able to access in terms of his academic education, so there are no grounds on which to criticise the council.
“He didn’t receive all the EHCP provision, partly because he was being educated out of school and partly because he couldn’t access all his hours. I’ve found no evidence to suggest her son missed out on SEN provision because of fault by the council.
“The evidence I’ve seen satisfies me her son had an annual review in September 2023 and was due another a year later. CBC accepts that didn’t happen.
“The council says that was because her son left his allocated school and began attending a different one around that time, while as a new independent school it lacked the necessary arrangements to organise the annual review.
“With the placement breaking down quickly, CBC had to sort out alternative provision further delaying the annual review until May 2025.” Failure to arrange the annual review within 12 months is fault, added the report.
“Delaying the annual review impacted the mother’s appeal right. That’s a serious injustice. I also consider she experienced some frustration because of the delay.
“To remedy the injustice, I recommend CBC apologise to her and pays her £250. The council has agreed to this. I’ve not found any evidence to support the allegation that the case officer ignored emails.”