The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s actions regarding her child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care Plan and the Council’s communication. This is because the Council has already offered a suitable remedy in line with our guidance, and further investigation is unlikely to achieve a different outcome.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about the Council’s actions between May 2023 and November 2023 regarding: her child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan); providing education to her child, Y; and the Council’s communication.
Mrs X says she was caused distress, frustration and time and trouble resolving the matters.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide: we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)).
The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the SEND Tribunal in this decision statement.
We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X has a child, Y. In May 2023, the Council made a final EHC Plan for Y. At around the same time, Y was permanently excluded from their school. During the summer of 2023, Mrs X asked the Council to find a special school for Y. The Council later agreed and began consulting with special schools.
Several months later, Mrs X complained to the Council. She told the Council it had failed to communicate with her about matters including, but not limited to, Y’s EHC Plan and Y’s educational provision. She also told the Council it had failed to deliver the content of Y’s EHC Plan to them.
In November 2023, the Council made a new final EHC Plan for Y naming a special school. Mrs X then appealed to the SEND Tribunal about the named school in the EHC Plan.
The Council sent a final complaint response in December 2023. The Council accepted fault causing injustice in response to each of Mrs X’s complaints. The Council apologised for the distress and frustration caused by the faults. Using the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies, it offered a financial remedy of £2,292 to recognise Y’s lost education and provision between May 2023 and November 2023. It also offered symbolic payments of £500 to acknowledge Mrs X’s time and trouble and an additional symbolic payment of £500 to recognise the distress caused to Mrs X.
Analysis We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because the Council’s final complaint response is comprehensive, and the Council accepted fault causing injustice. It offered a suitable remedy using the Ombudsman’s guidance, and therefore further investigation is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome.
Furthermore, the Council has recently agreed to service improvements recommended by the Ombudsman in similar cases. Improvements included reminding staff of the Council’s responsibilities to secure the provision in a child’s EHC Plan and of the Council’s duties under section 19 of the Education Act 1990; improving its communication with parents of children and young people it is supporting, creating an action plan to improve its EHC process, and to review the staffing levels in its SEND department. These changes will take time to implement. Therefore, we are unlikely to make additional service improvements through an investigation of Mrs X’s complaint.
Finally, Mrs X has used her right of appeal about the content of Y’s EHC Plan (the named school) to the SEND Tribunal. We therefore cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaints about the Council’s consultation with schools because Mrs X has used her right of appeal as explained at point five of this decision.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to achieve a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman