A head teacher has been ‘forced’ to complain to the Department of Education over a late Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) payment from Bracknell Forest Council (BFC).

The complaint was discussed at a BFC meeting on Wednesday, July 10.

Cllr Gareth Barnard questioned members of the executive over the issue raised by a headteacher in the borough with ‘passion and conviction’.

He said: “To get to a point where one of our own head teachers feels it needs to take the council, they work in through a complaints process is frankly not acceptable.”

Cllr Bernard, who raised the SEND issueCllr Barnard, who raised the SEND issue (Image: Bracknell Forest Council)

The conservative member for Whitegrove added: “They were left with no option but to take Bracknell Forest Council through a complaints process with the Department of Education for non-payment of monies relating to SEND.”

The name of the headteacher or school was not given.

Provision of special needs education is a big issue for BFC, as well as councils across England.

The authority recently joined a controversial government programme to reduce it’s overspend on SEND, known as the ‘safety valve’. The borough will have two new SEND schools built by 2026 as part of the agreement.

According to Cllr Barnard, this latest company was further evidence that ‘unfortunately the progress on the operational day-to-day delivery is not progressing as fast as some might see’.

Cllr Roy Bailey, executive member for children and young people, responded: “I was aware of that particular case, I know the individual well and the reasons behind it.

“We get too many complaints; we’ve got much better at dealing with them.”

He added that he was keeping a ‘close eye’ on the case.

Cllr Barnard further criticised that ‘there has been no scrutiny meeting on this subject’ of SEND provision.

He admitted that while he served in the Conservative-run executive of the council, they ‘didn’t get it right’. But he continued to ask the leader of the council whether she could assure that scrutiny will be given.

To this, Cllr Temperton responded: “I will move this forward, so we have careful scrutiny.

“I assure you we will look at this very carefully.”