Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) has been fined for a three-year delay in paying £2,000 for a child's special educational needs.

An investigation from the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) ruled that Bracknell Forest Council was at fault for not paying an amount promised in August 2021, which caused a mother and her son ‘avoidable frustration’.

The mother, referred to as Mrs X, first complained to the council about the lack of education for her 13-year-old son, referred to as S. He was a looked after child who was living away from home.

Following the complaints process, the Council agreed to pay £1,800 for the education S had missed since March 2021.

BFC said this money should be used to ‘support further learning activities’, and would be paid to the education provider, rather than Mrs X.

Two years later, in June 2023, Mrs X asked the council whether this payment had ever been made. In response, the council said that they did not pay the remedy because S was ‘not in the right frame of mind’ to see the benefit of additional tuition.

S was not regularly attending school at this time, and the placement eventually broke down in 2022.

Back and forth between the council and Mrs X took place from September to November, in which the mother was unsatisfied with the authority’s responses.

She requested for the payment to be made in line with inflation – which would see it rise to £1,950. She also asked the remedy to be paid directly to her, rather than S’s education provider.

After initially refusing to increase the payment, BFC then agreed to. The authority also admitted that it had not paid the remedy when first agreed three years before. A distress payment of £300 was also promised.

Following this, Mrs X raised it with the LGO, as she said her son could not access the remedy.

In February 2024, the council confirmed that it had completed the larger payment, but not the extra £300 – which they promptly paid.

The council did not have a process in place to monitor when the remedy was actually paid, which is why such confusion was caused for Mrs X. Since May 2022, such process has been established, which the watchdog welcomed.

In the final ruling, the council was ordered to pay £1,915 directly to Mrs X and a further £400 for distress caused by the delays. The council was found at fault for not paying the £300 remedy as promised in August 2021.

The council also was told to issue an apology to the mother.