LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council carried out an Education Health and Care needs assessment. This is because she has used her right of appeal to a tribunal and the issues raised are not separable from that appeal.

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan after moving into the Council’s area. This resulted in Y missing education and caused the family distress. The Council was at fault for failing to properly oversee the process when it received Y’s EHC Plan from another Local Authority, including missing key timescales, failing to keep Mrs X updated, and delay securing educational provision for Y. The Council offered a suitable financial remedy for Y’s missed educational provision and for the distress its faults caused.

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to implement provision outlined in her child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. We found the Council was at fault for failing to deliver provision to Y. This failure may have had an impact on Y’s learning and development. It caused significant distress and worry to Mrs X. The Council was also at fault for failing to respond properly to Mrs X, through its complaint’s procedure. Undue time and trouble were suffered by Mrs X as a result. The Council should apologise to Mrs X and make a symbolic payment to her.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s record keeping. This is because there is another body better placed to consider.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council responded to an assault allegation. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider data protection complaints.

Summary: We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint that her car was damaged due to the Council’s failure to manage road re-surfacing works properly. This is because it is reasonable for Miss B to pursue her compensation claim by taking the Council to court.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that his car was damaged by a pothole which the Council had failed to repair. This is because it is reasonable for Mr B to take the Council to court.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council and other bodies dealt with matters concerning the care of his child. Mr X’s complaint about the actions of the Council is made late and is about what happened in court. We have no powers to investigate the actions of the police or his child’s school.

Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to provide his child with a suitable education. Due to limitations on our powers, there are elements of Mr X’s complaint we cannot investigate. We have found the Council was at fault for the delay in arranging a suitable education and failing to communicate effectively with the family. This caused a loss of education and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise and pay a financial remedy.

Summary: Mr and Mrs X complained that the Council wrongly initiated court proceedings for unpaid penalty notices, despite having received full payment. We have concluded our investigation with a finding of fault. The Council failed to identify that payment had been made, did not act on the complainants’ correspondence, and escalated the matter to legal proceedings when enforcement was no longer appropriate. The Council has accepted our recommendations.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council's decision not to remove or significantly reduce a tree next to a private estate on which she lives.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to reduce the brightness of streetlights along a road in the local area. This is because the alleged fault did not cause significant enough injustice to Mr X to warrant an investigation.

Summary: Ms B complained that the Council delayed in completing an Education, Health and Care [EHC] needs assessment for her son C. she said it also refused to accept her private educational psychology report or ensure the school provided appropriate support during the period of delay. We found that the Council delayed in completing the EHC needs assessment and producing a final EHC Plan. This caused distress and inconvenience to Ms B and C to miss out on some support. The Council has agreed to pay Ms B £175 in addition to the £325 already offered. It has also agreed to write a letter of apolo

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to allocate him a new social worker. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

Summary: Miss Y complained the Council failed to provide her child, Z, with a suitable full-time education and the special educational needs support in their Education Health and Care Plan. We have found fault by the Council, causing injustice, in failing to secure the proper delivery of Z’s special education needs and educational provision from June 2023 to July 2024; and with its communication failures. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising and making payments to recognise the impact on Z of the missed provision and Miss Y’s upset and worry.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about an incident at a Council library. This is because Mr B has not suffered a serious or significant injustice which would justify public money being spent on an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to cease a care package for her child, Y. This is because the Council considered the complaint via the statutory children’s complaints process. There is insufficient evidence of fault and an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to add anything further.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about matters concerning her children’s education. This is because the law prevents us from investigating what happens in schools and because her complaint about the actions of the Council is made late.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council informed Mrs D about charges her mother may have to pay for homecare. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant starting an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to put in highway safety measures near his property, and how it dealt with his complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s highways decision-making process to warrant an investigation. We do not investigate councils’ complaint‑handling where we are not investigating the core issues giving rise to the complaint.

Summary: We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint that the Council is taking too long to provide information she requested under a subject access request. This is because there is another body – the Information Commissioner’s Office – better placed to consider this complaint.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about Education Health and Care Plan issues. There are no good reasons to investigate issues before October 2023, and it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to have appealed the Council’s decision to name a school to the Tribunal. We are unlikely to achieve more than the Council has offered as a remedy for missed provision.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council refused to provide school transport to either of the two schools named in her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because it is reasonable to expect Ms X to ask the Council for an appeal.

Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about which setting is suitable for a child’s education as Ms X appealed to the Tribunal. We cannot investigate how a school provides free school meals.

Summary: Ms M complained about the actions of Hampshire County Council (the Council), Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS foundation Trust (the Trust) and NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (the ICB). Ms M complained the organisations failed to ensure her child, S, received therapy provision set out in his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She also complained about the Council’s and Trust’s complaint handling. We have upheld parts of Ms M’s complaint relating to therapy provision and complaint handling. The organisations have accepted our recommendations. We have