![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_Younger-workers-more-likely-to-suffer-burnout.jpg\")
One mum said the situation \u201ccaused considerable distress\u201d and affected her child\u2019s wellbeing and future prospects(Image: Anna Gowthorpe\/PA Wire)<\/p>\nOne family received \u00a34,200 in total while another received \u00a33,600.One mum said the situation \u201ccaused considerable distress\u201d and affected her child\u2019s wellbeing and future prospects(Image: Anna Gowthorpe\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
Wirral Council has had to pay nearly \u00a38,000 to two families after two investigations found failings in support services.<\/a> One family received \u00a34,200 in total while another received \u00a33,600.<\/p>\n The local authority had to pay the thousands of pounds to two families over failures in providing support for their children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND).<\/a> Both families complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman<\/a> over delays.<\/p>\n One mum, referred to as Dr X, complained about delays in the council issuing a education, health and care plan (EHCP) which would set out her child\u2019s needs. The second mum, referred to as Mrs X, complained about the remedy offered by the council over its failure to provide support and secure her child\u2019s school place.<\/p>\n In Wirral<\/a>, around 5% of school age children have an EHCP<\/a> and the borough has seen a massive increase in demand in recent years putting further pressure on council services and school budgets. Wirral Council<\/a> last year decided to invest \u00a32.8m more to double the size of its SEND caseworker team.<\/p>\n Despite ongoing issues in its special needs services, the local authority was told by the government its intention to improve had been recognised<\/a> as being \u201creinvigorated and more ambitious.\u201d Wirral Council leader Cllr Paula Basnett<\/a> previously said: \u201cWe recognise there is much work to be done and we will stay focused on that until we are delivering consistently good outcomes for our younger residents.\u201d<\/p>\n In Dr X\u2019s case, the mum said the situation \u201ccaused considerable distress\u201d and affected her child\u2019s wellbeing and future prospects. Her child, referred to as Y, \u201cstopped attending school due to a decline in his mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n The family requested an EHCP assessment in August 2023 and the next month the council agreed to do so. However the final plan wasn\u2019t issued until 15 months later in January 2025 and \u201cwas, in part, caused by a local and nationwide shortage of educational psychologists.\u201d<\/p>\n Following a complaint, the council accepted the fault, adding staff absences had led to \u201ca long period of inactivity,\u201d and the local authority \u201cfailed to properly communicate\u201d with the family.<\/p>\n The family were offered compensation of \u00a3800 due to delays, \u00a31,800 due to missed term provision, and \u00a31,000 \u201cin recognition of the distress caused by poor communication and case handling.\u201d This was accepted by the Ombudsman.<\/p>\n The second case involving Mrs X\u2019s family revolved around the council\u2019s failure to secure the provision set out in the EHCP for her child \u2013 referred to as Child Z \u2013 and failing to secure a suitable school place.<\/p>\n The Ombudsman said the mum told them: \u201cThere is still no confirmed school place for her child and the payment offered by the Council is not enough for the distress and uncertainty she has suffered or the harmful impact on her child\u2019s education and welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n Her child had a plan issued in March 2024 but the council did not secure the education provision set out within it. The Ombudsman said the council had \u201csignificant staffing challenges during this period\u201d and highlighted steps it had taken to address issues.<\/p>\n Wirral Council has now found a suitable school for the child. It initially offered \u00a31,000 for \u201cavoidable distress\u201d and \u201cthe council has accepted that structured reintegration support, group sessions, and specialist input overseen by a SENCO should have been provided to Z from March 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n While Mrs X\u2019s child was receiving some home education, the council also offered a further payment of \u00a33,200 for missed school from March 2024 to the summer of 2025.<\/p>\n A Wirral Council spokesperson said: \u201cWirral Council accepts the Ombudsman\u2019s findings in these cases and has apologised for the unacceptable delay and uncertainty caused.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Council has already acknowledged there is still some way to go to improve local SEND services, and both Ofsted and the DfE are aware of our work and remain supportive of our plans to make improvements for the benefit of our borough\u2019s children.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One family received \u00a34,200 in total while another received \u00a33,600.One mum said the situation \u201ccaused considerable distress\u201d and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,2266,393,4884,179,16,15,8881,9313],"class_list":{"0":"post-357784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wirral","16":"tag-wirral-council"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115057644402951165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}