Hertfordshire County Council has apologised to families of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) after "widespread failings" were uncovered.
An inspection report by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published today (Friday, November 10) identified "widespread and / or systemic failings".
"Significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND" have been raised by the report.
These included communication with families and other professionals, the quality and timeliness of education and care plans, and the quality of support for children and young people.
The types of support available to children and young people in Hertfordshire and the time families have to wait to receive support also required improvement.
Opposition councillor Nigel Bell said: "It is with regret, but sadly not unexpected, that Herts County Council have been marked down as failing in their duty to our SEND (special education needs children) in the Ofsted Inspection in July.
"As county councillors we have had more complaints from our SEND families than on any other important issue and we understand the stress they have been going through, and their frustration when they have felt they were not being listened to by the County administration."
The leader of Hertfordshire County Council, Richard Roberts, said: "We accept the findings of the report and recognise too many children and young people with SEND and their families have not received the support they need and deserve.
"We are all, across the whole partnership, sorry for this and are taking urgent action to address the priority actions and areas for improvement."
Responsibility for the local authority's SEND services is shared with the NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB).
The partnership will now be "strengthening its existing improvement plan" and submitting a detailed priority action plan by December 19.
Dr Jane Halpin, chief executive of the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board, added: "Patients are at the heart of everything we do in the NHS, and we always want to ensure the best quality care and support to give every child the best start in life.
"This inspection has given our partnership the chance to see the full picture of everything we need to do to improve our services and ensure families have all the support they need at the right time."
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