LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: Mrs X complains that the Council failed to provide alternative education provision to her daughter, Y. The Council is at fault as it failed to consider if it had a duty under section 19 of the Education Act to make alternative provision for Y. This fault caused distress and uncertainty to Mrs X but did not cause Y to miss education provision. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice to Mrs X.

Summary: Mr X complained the Council would not progress a complaint he made to the final stage of the children’s statutory complaints process and would not arrange an independent panel to consider his complaint. There was no fault in the Council’s actions as its decision was in line with statutory guidance.

Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s planning process and decision for a site in its area several years ago. The complaint is late and there is no good reason for us to investigate it now. Even if we did investigate, we could not achieve the complaint outcome Miss X seeks.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council in the course of child protection action. This is because we would achieve nothing significant by doing so.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement with the care of the complainants’ children. This is because the issues raised form part of court proceedings.

Summary: Miss X complained about how the Council reviewed and amended her child, W’s, Education, Health and Care Plan, about how it found a new school for W and how it provided W with education in the meantime. The Council was at fault. This caused Miss X significant frustration and upset and meant W missed out on education and special educational provision for a year. To remedy their injustice, the Council will apologise to Miss X, pay her a total of £4900, issue a staff reminder and review the information it gives to staff on amending Education, Health and Care Plans.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the noise created by Council’s waste recycling collection. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Summary: Mr D complains the Council did not properly notify him about the installation of a mobile phone mast and did not consider the impact on his property. We found no fault.

Summary: Ms X complained about the handling of her Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) application. She says the proposed adaptations to her property are not fit for purpose and do not create sufficient space for her family. Mrs X complained the Council did not consider her family holistically or take account of their social and emotional needs. The Council’s failure to demonstrate how it took account of Ms X and her children’s views and needs is fault. As is the delay in completing an assessment of needs. These faults have caused Ms X an injustice.

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her child’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment. We found the Council at fault because there was a significant delay in securing the Educational Psychologist’s report needed for the assessment. In recognition of the distress caused by the delay, the Council agreed to make a symbolic payment of £500 to Mrs X.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax as there is a right of appeal to a tribunal. Part of the complaint relates to Universal Credit which is out of our jurisdiction.

Summary: Mrs B says the Council delayed completing an education, health and care needs assessment and in issuing a final plan, failed to respond to her communications and delayed responding to her complaint. There is no evidence of failure to respond to communications. However, the Council delayed when completing the needs assessment and in issuing the final plan and delayed responding to the complaint. An apology, payment to Mrs B and reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council did not provide her with any documentation or communication after the annual review of her child’s education, health and care plan. The Council acknowledges it has missed statutory timescales and it has agreed to our recommendations to adequately remedy the significant injustice to the family.

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s delay completing her child, Y’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment, and failure to provide Y with suitable alternative provision while out of school. We find fault, causing injustice to Y. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mrs X.

Summary: We will not investigate X’s complaint about an error on a street sign in the Council’s area or the Council’s poor communication about the matter. The Council apologised for its poor communication and replaced the street sign. Therefore, an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome.

Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about problems with a boiler replacement after the Council grant-aided the works to a private home in 2020. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Ms X could not have complained to us sooner.

Summary: Mr W complained the Council has wrongly issued a bill for his late mother’s brief stay in a care home. He says the Council did not explain it would charge for the stay and has billed a higher sum than it paid to the care home. We found the Council at fault for not carrying out a proper financial assessment. We do not consider the Council to be at fault for issuing a bill. The Council has agreed to reissue its bill, apologise to Mr W, and review its processes to improve its service.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delays in the Education, Health and Care plan process. This is because the Council has agreed to an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused by the delay.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning application for development at a site close to Mr X’s home. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: Ms X complained the Council did not provide education or special educational provision to her child when they were unable to attend school. Ms X said this resulted in her child missing education and support they should have received. We have found the Council at fault for not providing suitable provision to her child and for how it handled her complaint. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise, make a payment for the distress caused to Ms X and the loss of education to her child and carry out a service improvement in relation to complaint handling.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s processing of Mrs X’s in-year applications and appeals for school places. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of gully cleaning and parking suspension in Mr X’s road. This is because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

Summary: Mrs Y complains on behalf of Miss X about the way in which the Council managed her family’s move into the Council’s area in April 2023. She said that because of the Council’s failures the family suffered avoidable distress and the children missed education and crucial social services support. We found the Council was at fault in how the Council managed the social care and special education needs support for the family. The Council agreed to our recommendations on what it should do to remedy the injustice its actions caused Miss X and her family.

Summary: We did not find fault with the Council in how it approached its duties for the complainant’s (Mrs X) son (Y) when Y stopped attending school. We cannot investigate whether the Council arranged suitable alternative provision for Y and delivered his special educational provision from the date of issuing Y’s final Education Health and Care Plan in March 2023. Mrs X appealed Sections B, F and I of this plan and the matters complained about are too closely linked with the appeal.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the priority given to Mrs X’s housing application. Investigation would be unlikely to find fault because the evidence suggests the Council reached its decision properly.