A BOY with special educational needs missed a year’s schooling because Wirral Council wrongly refused to take responsibility for educating him.
Local Government Ombudsman Anne Seex slammed the council’s action and has recom- mended the family, which cannot be named for legal reasons, be given compensation.
In her report, issued this week, she said: “No reasonable authority would have relied upon such insubstantial information to make a decision about a vulnerable child.”
In a statement issued last night, a Wirral Council spokesperson said: “The Children and Young People’s Department works hard to meet the needs of all children with special educational needs and has a good record in this area.
“It regrets the confusion Šwhich led to the situation and representatives will be meeting with parents.”
The boy’s father, called Mr H in the report, won an appeal to a tribunal about the secondary school to be named in a statement of special educational needs – but council education officers became suspicious that Mr H’s family were not living at the property they owned in the area.
Mr H provided full information to the council tax service, which accepted the family was using its Wirral property as its main residence – but the legal department did not contact the tax section, despite twice being directed there by him.
