Council bosses did not seek legal advice over cutting speech and language therapy for children with special educational needs until AFTER a mother challenged the decision, it has emerged.
The authority said the changes - to reduce speech and language therapy for children by 50pc - had been a short-term measure to tackle waiting list backlogs, when there were more than 1,500 children on the waiting list for therapy.
But London-based Coram Children's Legal Centre sent a pre-litigation letter on the boy's behalf warning the policy was unlawful.
The council accepted the policy did not meet statutory requirements and has withdrawn it.
It has also confirmed 843 children saw their therapy reduced in the short term.
Council bosses said they are looking at further investment to focus on the remaining waiting list, while providing full therapy to all children currently in receipt of these services.
But the authority confirmed it did not seek legal advice on the changes until after the boy's mother launched her challenge.
A council spokesperson said: "The decision was made against a backdrop of huge demand and high pressure on resources, with the aim of supporting the maximum number of children while balancing the competing priorities of service delivery and meeting statutory duties in full.
"Having received the parental challenge, legal advice was sought, and this, together with feedback from parents, was a key feature of the change that we then made to our interim plan, illustrating that we do have full confidence in the legal advice that we received."
At a meeting of the Conservative-controlled cabinet on Monday, Norwich mother Caroline Sykes, whose daughter Isla has Down's syndrome, said the council should not be advocating unlawful policies, especially against children with the most need.
John Fisher, cabinet member for adult social care, said: "The decision was made as a result of the shortage of therapists available nationally and locally, compared to the significant number of children awaiting assessment and support, and for no other reason."
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