A Richmond child with special educational needs missed six weeks of school during her GCSEs because of a delay in providing a therapy session which was essential to them being able to get back to the classroom.

Richmond Council's independent children services provider Achieving for Children (AfC) has paid out £750 to the child's family after investigating a complaint about the delay.

The child, named 'C' in the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report, has autism, dyslexia, ADHD and anxiety. Her grandmother, referred to as Mrs B, complained that the council failed to provide C with the education, health and care provision set out in her support plan.

The ombudsman ruled that the council failed to assess how much home tuition C could access and delayed providing her with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in 2021, which in turn delayed her return to school and meant she missed six weeks of teaching. AfC provided C with seven hours of tuition a week from September to mid-October 2021 which the report ruled was not equivalent to full-time education. The report found AfC failed to assess the number of hours suitable for C, which caused uncertainty.

An earlier tribunal also ordered that C should have weekly one-hour sessions of CBT alongside home tuition just before she transitioned back to school. AfC did not secure the therapy until October, which the report ruled "delayed C's return to school", and stopped providing C with home tuition in the same month. C did not go back to school until mid-December while she completed the CBT programme. A speech and language therapist provided C with weekly sessions from November until she returned to school.

The report said: "From September to October 2021, C did not receive all the provision in her EHC (Education, Health and Care) plan. The school-based interventions could not be delivered because C was not attending school, and she did not receive SALT (speech and language therapy) until November 2021. This was fault by AfC and meant C missed out on six weeks of EHC provision."

It added: "Although, professionals felt C could return to school alongside receiving CBT, this was not in line with the tribunal order. Therefore, AfC should have continued to provide C with alternative provision from mid-October until she transitioned to School 1 in mid-December, not doing so was fault. In total, C missed six weeks of education and EHC provision because of AfC's fault."

The ombudsman said the £750 payout offered to Mrs B by AfC during its own complaint investigation was suitable for the injustice caused to her and C. A Richmond Council and AfC spokesperson said: "We have accepted the findings from the LGSCO review and taken forward the agreed actions and learning which has been identified. An apology and financial remedy has been shared with the family."