LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: Ms X complains about issues concerning her daughter Y’s education, including delays in the EHCP process, failure to provide suitable full-time education, and poor communication. We have concluded our investigation with a finding of fault. The Council delayed in finalising Y’s EHCP and failed to ensure suitable education was in place between November 2022 and May 2023. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.

Summary: We have upheld this complaint about the Council’s handling of a financial assessment for Ms X. The Council has agreed appropriate action to remedy the injustice caused.

Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council failed to meet the provision detailed in her child’s Education Health and Care Plan or about how it carried out annual reviews. Part of the complaint is made late and there is either insufficient evidence of fault with how the Council dealt with recent matters, or investigation into them would not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not following court orders. This is because the law prevents us considering the Council’s actions during court proceedings. Also, Mr X could reasonably have raised some matters in court.

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to deliver special educational provision on her son Y’s Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She also complained there was a failure to carry out an annual review. We upheld the complaint. The Council did not complete the annual review process between December 2023 and December 2024 and did not issue a decision letter giving rights of appeal. And, it did not secure all the special educational provision on Y’s Plan. This caused a loss of provision, a delay in appeal rights and avoidable distress. The Council will apologise and make payments to remed

Summary: We found fault on Mrs Y’s complaint against the Council through a service failure. It failed to issue the final Education, Health and Care plan for her daughter, Z, within statutory timescales. The Council issued it 40 weeks late. The delay caused Mrs Y avoidable injustice as she suffered uncertainty and frustration. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his late father’s care charges. He says the Council delayed in completing a financial reassessment and delayed in notifying his father of an increase in his care contributions, leading to a debt. This is because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about failure to complete the checklist for NHS continuing healthcare funding. We have no powers to investigate NHS matters, so cannot achieve the wanted result of backdated NHS funding. It is also unlikely we would find enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision not to complete a checklist.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s assessment of her mother. The Council has already apologised for not involving Mrs X in her mother’s review and has offered a reassessment. There is nothing more we could achieve by investigating the matter further.

Summary: Mrs X complained that the Council provided misleading information about how it would treat a property her mother owned abroad when deciding whether she would need to contribute to the cost of her home care. We found delay and poor communication in completing the financial assessment which caused distress and the Council agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment.

Summary: Ms B complained that the Council removed the funding for transporting her daughter, Miss C, to a day centre three times a week. We found the Council applied its transport policy with a blanket approach, without considering Miss C’s individual circumstances. The Council has agreed to fully explain the disability related expenditure process to Ms B, invite her to provide the necessary evidence then carry out a financial assessment taking into account Miss C’s full circumstances.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to safeguarding and other actions relating to Mrs X’s mental capacity assessment. This is because we do not have consent from Mrs X to investigate, and nor do we believe Mrs Y can make a complaint about these actions, on Mrs X’s behalf, as her representative.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the actions of a social worker. This is because part of Mr X’s complaint is late and there are no good reasons why they could not have been made to us sooner. Of the matters remaining there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify us investigating.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a school admissions appeal panel refusing an appeal. It is unlikely we would find fault which caused Mr X to lose out on a school place.

Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s children’s services involvement with her family. This is because the complaint is made late, and I see no good reason to investigate it now.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about highway maintenance because it is reasonable to expect Mr Y to approach the court about the matter and the courts are better placed to deal with the complaint.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about what the Council wrote about Mr X. This matter is closely related to matters that either were or could reasonably have been raised during court proceedings regarding Mr X’s child. A legal bar permanently prevents us investigating these matters.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council ignoring his concerns about his child’s welfare since 2015. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her daughter’s Education, Health and Care Plan in late 2022 and the lack of alternative provision since January 2023. We have found the Council was at fault for the delay in finalising Plans following reviews in October 2022 and March 2023. This caused Mrs X and S avoidable distress, uncertainty and loss of provision from section F of the Plan. The Council has already accepted some of the faults and apologised together with our further recommendations.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Miss C’s complaint. This is because the matters are not separable from court proceedings.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the conduct of a driver for his child, Y’s, home to school transport. This is because an investigation is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about highway drainage because we are satisfied with the actions the Council proposes to take and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a pothole damage claim as this is a matter for the courts.

Summary: We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in completing her child’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint the Council failed to name a school on the Education, Health and Care plan. These decisions carry a right of appeal which it would be reasonable for Mrs X to use.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to place Mr X’s child in foster care and its alleged failure to safeguard Mr X’s child while in the foster placement. The matter is before the courts, and we have no legal power to investigate.