Cumbria County Council has been told to pay compensation and apologise to a father after his child missed out on support for his speech delay for four months.

The Ombudsman for social care investigated a complaint by the father, referred to as Mr X, and ordered the council to pay him a total of £350 in compensation.

The watchdog said Mr X’s child, referred to as Y, became looked-after and was placed with a foster family 20 miles from his home for about four months.

Before moving in with the foster family, Y attended nursery three days a week and they were supporting him with his speech delay.

However council staff failed to either find an alternative nursery for Y to attend or arrange transport to his old nursery, as requested by the foster carer. This was despite a doctor recommending Y receive further support for his speech and making a referral to the appropriate service once he became looked after.

Social workers responsible for Y also failed to complete a Personal Education Plan, which the watchdog said should either be initiated as part of the care plan before a child becomes looked after, or within 10 working days if the child becomes looked after in an emergency.

Y had contact with his parents every weekday for two hours.

The Ombudsman said: “Y’s parents said they wanted him to go back to the nursery near their home.

“They were concerned any more delay may affect his reintegration with his peers when he returned to their care.”

He added they would be willing to sacrifice a day of contact to allow Y to return to his nursery for one full day a week.

The watchdog said: “Some disruption to Y’s attendance at nursery was unavoidable when he became a looked after child, particularly as he was staying with a foster carer some distance from the family home.

“However, it is clear from the records that Y’s parents, foster carer, social worker and independent reviewing officer all agreed it would be in his best interest to attend nursery.

“Despite this, there is no evidence the social worker or foster carer took any action to progress this. There is no record of any further discussions about providing transport to his previous nursery, nor of any contact with nurseries nearby to his foster carer. This was fault and it meant Y went without the provision everybody agreed he needed.”

The Ombudsman had previously investigated how the council had dealt with Mr X’s complaint and found fault.

A county council spokesman said: “We accept the Ombudman’s decision and have apologised to the family, we are sincerely sorry for letting them down.”