Bromley mum awarded £750 after being 'left in the dark' by council over son's care plan

Published date16 April 2024
Publication titleMyLondon (England)
The report said an annual review meeting for the mother’s son, called W in the report, reportedly took place on February 11 2022 to determine changes to his EHC plan. Following the meeting, the authority reportedly failed to notify Ms X, the child’s mother, of its intention to amend the EHC plan and did not send her the draft amended plan

The council was also criticised for not informing the mother on details of changes in the final plan and for not issuing the final EHC plan within 12 weeks of the review meeting. The ombudsman said the prolonged delay meant the next annual review meeting took place before the previous year’s review process had been completed.

The report added that Bromley Council again failed to notify Ms X on whether the EHC plan was to be amended, maintained or gotten rid of entirely at another annual review meeting in May 2023. The authority reportedly appeared to combine the processes for the 2022 and 2023 annual reviews at this point and issued an amended draft plan to the mother on October 17 before issuing the final plan on December 6 2023.

The ombudsman criticised the authority for the time taken to complete the reviews and said it was at fault. The report said the law required the review to have been completed by February 15 2023, as W was scheduled to transition into secondary phase education that September.

The report said: “Ms X has found the process frustrating and confusing because the first annual review was not completed before the next annual review meeting was held. She was frustrated that the EHC plan contained inaccurate information about her son and that the council failed to...

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