Up to nine families received part of the £48,600 paid out by West Northamptonshire Council following scathing report in March

A council spent nearly £49,000 compensating up to nine children and their families over failures in how their special educational needs were met.

West Northamptonshire Council was earlier told to pay out £7,125 to one family after a child with autism did not get a proper education for nearly two years.

In a blistering report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) in March, the council was found to have caused the child “significante physical and mental distress” and failed to communicate as it said it would with their mother.

The LGO said despite repeated requests for comment, the authority had failed to respond at “the earliest opportunity” and only then after the report process had begun.

The council was told to review the cases of eight other children with special educational needs. They had also been out of school for long periods.

The LGO also told the council to “signpost” those parents to the ombudsman if they were dissatisfied by the way the authority had acted.

The council said it had worked to “put things right for others identified to have experienced injustice”.

It said it has given out payments of between £200 and £600 for each month needs were not met, according to LGO guidelines.

West Northamptonshire Council said it had paid out a total of £48,600, which includes the £7,125 paid following March’s report and the other eight cases.

The council’s audit and governance committee will be asked to note the report at a meeting on Wednesday.

When March’s report was published, the council’s cabinet member for children, Councillor Fiona Baker, said council members were “disappointed” and “sorry” to have “previously fallen short” but had accepted the LGO’s findings in full.

Michael King, the LGO, said: “I’m pleased the council has agreed to the recommendations I have made to remedy the situation for the family, but it should not have taken the threat of a public interest report for them to have done so.”

West Northamptonshire Council approved a new £1.1m special needs unit at Northampton’s Hunsbury Park Primary School for up to 50 children in March.

Another plan is progressing on a new special school in Tiffield with the authority, developers and the Greenwood Multi Academy Trust.