Ealing Labour fail to deliver agreed therapy for early years special needs child
Ealing Liberal Democrats are keen to hold Ealing Labour to account on their failures. The most recent example is a lack of delivery of identified speech and language therapy for a young child1 with autism as outlined in an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This has resulted in Ealing Council paying the family almost £800 pounds in compensation which was foreseeable and avoidable.
This is sad and disappointing for families who have children with special needs as it shows that Ealing Labour have failed to meet their statutory duties in delivering services to these residents. The report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman also found that communication with the child’s parent fell below expected standards. This highlights the poor service delivery being experienced across the borough with a lack of transparency and openness by Ealing Labour being cited as a significant factor.
Ealing Labour is poised for an expected closure of ten children’s centres2 and wants to move away from the emphasis of service provision by law on EHCPs. These potential closures are currently subject to a Judicial review in the courts and awaiting the outcome.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Jonathan Oxley - Children (Education, Children's Services, Special Educational Needs, Fostering and Looked After Children) said
“'Is it any surprise that our Labour Ealing Council have been forced by the Local Government Ombudsman to apologies and pay compensation to the parents of a vulnerable child? The Council's failure to treat a child with speech and language impairments for a year is reprehensible but not unexpected given Labour's poor track record on children services.
The Council's dedicated team of specialist sensory teachers who support children with hearing and vision impairments are overworked and underappreciated by Labour, so much so that the team was on strike for two weeks before Christmas.
Harrow and Brent Council have significantly larger teams, yet Ealing's Labour Council hasn’t even recruited all of Ealing’s posts.
This failure is against the backdrop Labour's Ealing Council plan to close ten of our precious children centres. Once again, Labour's fine words on supporting vulnerable children are not matched by deeds. “
