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A boy with special educational needs missed a year of formal schooling because Suffolk County Council delayed assessing him, a report has found. The Local Government Ombudsman said the council was guilty of maladministration in the way it dealt with the child, who suffers from Tourette's syndrome. The ombudsman said the boy's mother had to pay for an educational report after the council refused to assess her son. The authority said it aimed to provide the best services for young people. Ombudsman Tony Redmond's report said the mother requested an assessment of her son's special educational needs in September 2006, which the council refused on the basis of insufficient evidence. The council referred the case to an advisory service which in January 2007 recommended the completion of a statutory assessment, but the council decided not to carry one out. Mother compensated A further request in June 2007 for a statutory assessment was refused, the ombudsman said. Only when the Children's Legal Centre provided an educational psychologist's report, paid for by the mother, did the council agree to an assessment. It confirmed the special educational needs of the boy, who has since been placed at a special school. Mr Redmond said: "I consider that it cannot normally be right that parents or carers have to commission and pay for their own educational psychologists' reports to persuade a council to commence a statutory assessment." A council spokesperson said: "We recognise that some young people have additional needs and in these circumstances we make every effort to identify these as soon as possible." The council has agreed to reimburse the mother for the cost of the educational psychologist's report and to pay her £500 compensation and £250 compensation to her son.
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