A mum has received a payout after Reading children’s services failed to order an assessment of physical co-ordination for her son.
The mum suspected that her son has dyspraxia, a disorder which affects a person’s movement and co-ordination.
She thought the council’s children’s services had organised an assessment for the condition with his GP.
But this assessment was not organised, according to a recent investigation.
Problems began when Reading children’s services began wrapping up its involvement with the boy.
Prior to that, in 2020, the boy was being supported by children’s services as a Child in Need – someone who would require council help for their development.
Children’s services also devised a Child Protection Plan for him, and agreed to contact his GP about a referral for a dyspraxia assessment. Eventually, children’s services ended its involvement with the boy.
But when the mum tried to follow up on the dyspraxia assessment with his GP, she found that her son had not been referred.
This led the mum to refer her son for an assessment herself, and complained that children’s services failed to refer him as agreed.
Children’s services fully upheld her complaint and apologised.
But the mum was not satisfied with the response, arguing the delay to the assessment has affected her son’s educational opportunities.
She then asked the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) to investigate her complaint.
The LGO noted that Reading children’s services had accepted fault for failing to contact the GP for the dyspraxia assessment.
Replying to the mum, Reading children’s services stated that it would review its internal processes and ask managers to ensure that actions on plans were completed by workers.
Furthermore, Reading Borough Council has agreed to pay £200 in compensation for the avoidable distress caused.
The LGO expressed satisfaction that the issue has been resolved and has closed their investigation.
Reading children’s services have been managed by the independent company Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC) since December 2018. BFfC was set up by the council as an independent body.
A BFfC spokesperson said: “The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman was satisfied with the action taken by Brighter Futures for Children in this case and decided not to investigate further.
“As highlighted in the Ombudsman’s report, we have apologised to Ms X and made a payment in recognition of distress caused.
“We have also reviewed our internal processes to avoid a similar incident happening in the future.”
