Kingston Council has been forced to apologise and pay out £500 in compensation for failing to help a vulnerable man after he finished his college studies.

A report by the Local Government Ombudsman published this week ruled that the council did not arrange a proper transition plan for the man to help him when he started work.

The man, known as X, was supported by an Education, Health and Care Plan when he attended college in 2017, which outlined the extra help he needed.

It said that when his course ended, he would probably do an apprenticeship where he would need more support, and that he had been assessed as having adult social care needs.

To meet those needs he would be supported by a specialist for 12 weeks after his course ended, after which his needs would be reviewed again.

But when the course did end a year later there was no transition planning to help him prepare for full time work and adulthood.

In June 2018 X started working at the placement he had attended as part of the course, and in January 2019 the council wrote to his mother, Mrs B, saying it intended to stop maintaining the EHC plan.

Mrs B said that X was not working full-time and she did not want the plan to be ended, but for her son to return to education.

The ombudsman said “there was no action by the council” to support the next steps in the man’s EHC plan, and rejected the council’s claim that they expected him to move into full-time employment.

The report said they did “not know what the basis is for this statement as it is not supported by the content of the EHC plan or any other evidence. There is no evidence of any clear plan for X when he left college and that is fault.”

Mrs B claimed that her son’s life chances are now limited as he doesn’t have any basic educational qualifications.

The ombudsman ruled that the lack of proper transition planning was a fault but did not consider there was enough evidence to suggest that had there been proper planning there would have been a different outcome for X.

He has now started another college course and will have his EHC plan reviewed.

A spokesperson for Kingston Council said they accepted the decision of the ombudsman and “are working closely with the young person and their parent to ensure appropriate transition planning for next steps via the annual review process.”