Oxfordshire County Council has been ordered to pay more than £35,000 to families of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

It comes after the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) found failures with the authority’s school arrangements for SEND children.

The council has been told to make payments totalling £35,850 to 14 families this year.

READ MORE: Oxfordshire parents describe failures in SEND services

The LGO found some children had suffered months out of appropriate education and noted delays in Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.

In one case, a woman suffered a mental health breakdown after her autistic son missed almost a year of appropriate schooling, the ombudsman reported.

She won one of the largest awards of £7,150 to compensate for the “distress caused to her by the council’s failings,” as well as the negative impact of the lack of suitable education. 

In another case, the parents of an autistic boy who missed a year of school were found to have been caused “distress, uncertainty, and frustration”.

This led to an award of £7,550.

Last month, the council received a damning report by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission into the “widespread failings” of the county’s SEND provision.

The fallout of the report led to the collapse of the council’s ruling coalition.

READ MORE: Protesters throw paint at Radcliffe Camera

Oxford Mail: Damian Haywood, an independent councillor, resigned from the Labour party following last month's SEND reportDamian Haywood, an independent councillor, resigned from the Labour party following last month's SEND report (Image: Contributed)

Damian Haywood, an independent councillor who resigned from the Labour party following the report, said compensating families did not make up for the councils’ failings.

Mr Haywood, whose son has learning difficulties, said: “The issue isn’t about money. These families don’t want money thrown at them. They want available and appropriate provision for their children.

“They want the access to education that their children deserve in order for them to achieve.

“The council has failed them.

“I talked to parents about this at the protest in November and one said she just woke up one morning to find a large sum of money in her bank account – but it’s not about money.

“Parents were essentially given money and told to go off and find their own solutions, but what they wanted was the authority to have the solutions in place.”

Following last month’s report, there has been a major reshuffle in the council’s cabinet.

Councillor Liz Brighouse stepped down as education councillor, and a new role was created for councillor Kate Gregory focused solely on the urgent action required by the report.

Council leader Liz Leffman said: “We have quickly filled vacant cabinet positions and we are now rapidly focusing on the issues that matter to Oxfordshire people.

“Our priorities will be on rebuilding trust with parents and children, communicating better with them, listening to them and delivering better outcomes for the most vulnerable children in the county.”