A GOVERNMENT watchdog has criticised Somerset Council for taking too long to provide speech and language therapy to a disabled teenager.

The teenager, known only as Ms K, has a rare condition which can “have serious health consequences” when she is under stress, and she was unable to reach her potential at college without special needs provision.

After this support was not forthcoming from Somerset Council, Ms K’s mother, Ms B, complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), which has heavily criticised the council.

The council has said it was working hard to ensure the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) could be met in a timely and consistent fashion.

Ms K required speech and language therapy because her rare condition makes it difficult for her to process verbal information.

The council agreed to provide speech therapy and occupational therapy as part of a education, health and care plan (ECHP) which was signed off in 2023 – but it took until January 2024 for the council to make contact with an appropriate therapist, who by that time had no capacity to support Ms. K.

Ms. B first complained to the LGSCO in October 2023, with an initial investigation concluding that the council exceeded that the legal target for issuing an agreed EHCP by more than 20 weeks.

The council agreed to pay Ms. B £50 per week, backdated to April 2023, as a “symbolic payment” to make up for the “distress and frustration” it had caused.

But by May 2024, no therapy had yet been put in place, no review of Ms. K’s case had been carried out, and the payments of £50 a week had not been made.

Somerset Council said it had fully accepted the ombudsman’s ruling and had “sincerely apologised to Ms K and her family for any distress caused”.