A mum has been awarded more than £20,000 in compensation after a council was found to have failed two of her children with special educational needs, causing them to miss years of schooling.

Kent County Council has been told to apologise to a family from Dartford and pay costs in recognition of "the distress and frustration".

One child went two-and-a-half years without a formal education, was denied speech and language therapies and was provided with online tutoring just two hours a week during the pandemic.

It meant they failed to record enough graded work to sit their GCSEs and missed out on a post-16 placement.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ruled there had been a "significant injustice" involving two children with complex learning needs from the same household.

Kent County Council accepted it had "failed" but said there were "unique circumstances" regarding the siblings at a time when schools and local authorities were struggling to keep up with online learning. It says it has since put in place measures to prevent children "falling through the net".

In its decision, the ombudsman said the mother, referred to as Mrs B, wrote to the council after her eldest child stopped attending school in March 2019.

The child, who is now 16 and has autism and speech and language delays, was regularly bullied at school and was signed off on the advice of their GP.

Mrs B asked the council to assess her child for an education, health and care plan (EHCP), a document which sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them.

But after this was put in place the council failed to deliver the provision set out in the child's plan and did not make suitable alternative arrangements while they were out of school.

Mrs B said the only support her child, referred to as 'C', received was online tutoring for two hours a week from November 2020 to March 2021.

She also complained about delays to the EHCP process and said poor complaint handling caused additional frustration.

"This can be a difficult time for any child, but C’s additional needs and personal circumstances meant that it was even more difficult."

According to the ombudsman's report the council "failed to take any responsibility", instead telling Mrs B this was down to the school while the child was still enrolled.

It concluded the injustice to Mrs B's child was "significant" and continuous delays and failures added to their anxiety.

"They were left without their EHCP provision and suitable alternative provision for a prolonged period," the ombudsman said. "This happened at a key phase of C’s education when they were transferring to post-16 education.

"This can be a difficult time for any child, but C’s additional needs and personal circumstances meant that it was even more difficult."

The ombudsman said the delays and lack of coordination was "confusing" and several opportunities to rectify this were missed. It also expressed concerns that attempts to remedy this were only offered once the watchdog had got involved.

Mrs B's child started attending a mainstream college in September last year but even now their EHCP provision, which includes speech and language therapy, is not being provided months after the ombudman's investigation finished.

Following the review, the council accepted the findings and recommendations and offered £5,400 in recognition of the lost education from July 2019 to May 2020.

In addition to this, the ombudsman has also ordered the council to pay various sums for other periods of missed schooling and a failure to meet EHCP provision.

The decision comes less than a year after the ombudsman handed down another ruling relating to another of Mrs B's children.

On this occasion Mrs B complained about the council’s failure to provide suitable education for her younger child, now 14, when they were unable to attend school because of anxiety and about delays in reviewing their EHCP.

"The education system, especially for special needs children is broken and the children are paying the price for it."

Again, the ombudsman found the council was at fault in that it delayed reviewing the plan and in responding to the mother.

The council apologised and paid the family £6,000 to be used for educational, social and mental health purposes, for the child's lost education and special educational needs (SEN) provision since January 2020.

The latest payout is believed to be one of the largest handed out but Mrs B said the cash still goes nowhere near addressing the "untold damage" caused.

Following the decision, Mrs B told KentOnline: "Both of my children have been let down and significantly adversely affected by KCC's failings. My children are not the only ones this happens to and that is scandalous.

"The money awarded to my children will not replace the years lost without education that has done untold damage and will affect them for the rest of their lives."

She said parents were investing great time and expense fighting the council which made them "jump through never-ending hoops" to access support they are legally entitled to.

Even now she says on the days her children are well enough to attend school, she has to do a round trip of more than 80 miles from Dartford to two different places in the "Kent countryside".

The mum added: "The education system, especially for special needs children, is broken and the children are paying the price for it.

"I wish we didn't have to do any of this. I just want to be a mum and I just want my children to be happy.

"A society will be judged on how it treats its most vulnerable. Well, disabled children are surely the most vulnerable and look at how they are being treated."

Mrs B has called for funding gaps to be addressed at a national level and greater awareness raised of the challenges facing parents with SEND children.

Kent County Council accepted the review's findings and said it regrets the distress caused. A spokesman said: "The council accepted liability for its failings, cooperated fully with the ombudsman and has reimbursed the family for the pupils’ opportunities lost through missed education.

"There is no justification for a young person being without education, but there were unique circumstances regarding these siblings.

"Both are characterised as young people with special educational needs with anxiety as a consequence."

They added this "heightened anxiety" had happened amid increased global anxiety for young people, when schools and local authorities were struggling with the "demands" of online learning.

"The government recognised this difficulty and created emergency legislation that allowed local authorities to utilise their 'best endeavours' to meet needs," they explained.

"There is no justification for a young person being without education, but there were unique circumstances regarding these siblings."

"At the same time, services were adjusting to working remotely and, unfortunately, with the reduction in face-to-face engagement, at times fell short."

The council says it sought to learn from these circumstances and has worked with the ombudsman to put in place measures to prevent young people from "falling through the net in the future".

Last month, the director for education at Kent County Council Mark Walker described the county's SEN system as a “bottomless pit".

Data collected by The Bureau for Investigative Journalism has found that the deficit for such provisions has reached £103 million – in cash terms, the largest in the country – and it will take five years for the authority to break even again.

It found the main problem was that funding had failed to keep up with demand for EHCPs and SEN school places.

The county council was also criticised over its handling of SEND transport after a recent shake-up left hundreds of children unable to get to school.