Bracknell Council apologises over SEND school delay

This comes after five complaints made by the child’s family against Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) were investigated Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), but the watchdog found the council to be at fault for only one of these.

Following a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) tribunal ruling, the council had five weeks to transfer the child from one school to another placement, but the council took more than six weeks to do this.

The LGO found the council to be at fault for this, but ruled any injustice caused to be ‘limited.’

Nikki Edwards, Executive Director, People at BFC, said: “We always keep the needs and wishes of our residents at the foremost of all decisions, but occasionally short delays and issues are unavoidable.

“We are aware of a student who experienced a 10-day delay in transferring to a new school, due to the need to serve out a notice period at their former residential placement.

“This notice period was honoured in order to avoid incurring two concurrent sets of fees, which would have been an inefficient use of public expenditure.

“We have been in contact with the family concerned and apologised to them for this delay.

“This matter was investigated by the LGO who found the decision to be reasonable and proportionate.

“We are pleased the student concerned can now settle into their new school environment and we will continue to work with the family to ensure their ongoing needs are met fully.”