Reading Borough Council's childrens company will pay a total of £13,000 after an autistic schoolgirl was left with zero GCSEs due to ill mental health.

Problems for the family began in December 2018 when the girl stopped attending the private school she was enrolled in due to severe anxiety.

It resulted in the girl, who is autistic, leaving school with no GCSEs, being off school from the Christmas of Year 9 to the end of Year 11.

The mum argued her daughter suffered a ‘serious injustice’ and felt that she could have left school with GCSEs if her daughter was supported correctly.

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Problems for the family began in December 2018 when the girl stopped attending the private school she was enrolled in due to severe anxiety.

Although families can choose to home school their children, the council has an  obligation to provide education for children who cannot attend school for health reasons or otherwise.

The mum argued that the council did not make this obligation clear.

The council has already paid £6,223.37 to reimburse the mum for paying for private tuition and for its failure to assess her needs.

The compensation was paid following the council’s Stage 2 investigation into the complaint, completed in May 2021, which admitted that the council should have explored some form of alternative education for the girl, as it was clear her health condition meant that she could not attend school.

However, the mum felt that the payout was not enough, as her daughter had fallen out of education during crucial GCSE years.

She also argued the council had failed to lay out alternative education options for the girl.

The mum therefore asked the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSO) to investigate.

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The ombudsman concluded in the mother’s favour, agreeing that the council failed to lay out alternative education options and that the family had suffered an injustice

To remedy this, the council has agreed to amend its materials to include information for parents of children who are in the same position, including those whose children are privately educated.

The council has also agreed to pay a further £6,776.63 bringing the total payout to £13,000.

The ombudsman said that this additional payout should be used for the girl’s n for any  additional support, education and training outside of that identified in her Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

A spokesperson for Brighter Futures for Children, the council’s independent childrens services company, said: “We fully accept the findings of the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman in this case and the agreed full payment has been made.

“We are currently working on updating our home education policy, and associated materials, to take into account the Ombudsman’s findings and this will be published by the deadline specified.”