The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council delayed carrying out an Education Health and Care needs assessment. This is because doing so would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
Mr X complains that the Council delayed carry out an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment for his child. Mr X says this has caused distress and that he has had to pay school fees whilst the assessment was being carried out.
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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council accepted that it delayed completing the EHC needs assessment and by nine months, which it said was due to a national shortage of Educational Psychologists. The Council has since issued a final EHC plan naming the school that Mr X has been paying for his child to attend.
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because doing so would not lead to a different outcome. We were made aware under a previous case about the issues the Council are facing due to the national shortage of Educational Psychologists. The Council has an action plan in place to deal with this matter and we are satisfied the Council is taking action to deal with this issue.
The Council has apologised to Mr X and offered to make a payment to him of £900 to remedy the injustice this caused. The apology and remedy payment in in line with our guidance on remedies for the distress caused to Mr X by the delay.
We could not recommend that Mr X is reimbursed for the fees he has paid for his son to attend the school now named in the final EHC plan. This is because the assessment process takes account of the latest evidence relating to the child’s present circumstances, rather than looking at the child’s situation at the point when the EHC plan should have originally been provided. Therefore there is no way of us knowing with any certainty that the Council would have named the school that Mr X was paying for his child to attend had it issued the plan when it should have done.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because doing so would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman