The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to reimburse the complainant for costs associated with her child’s education. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council.
The complaint
Mrs X complains that the Council failed to reimburse her for costs associated with an Education Otherwise Than at School (EOTAS) package agreed by the Council for her child. Mrs X wants the Council to reimburse her for stationery and travel costs.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I cannot decide what provision should have been arranged as part of the agreed EOTAS package. This is because Mrs X has complained about the education and SEN provision in place for her daughter under another complaint that is currently being investigated by the Ombudsman. I have therefore only considered how the Council decided whether or not to reimburse her costs.
I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The Council accepted that some agreed costs had not been paid, apologised and agreed to reimburse Mrs X for these. It also apologised for how it dealt with her complaint and correspondence about these matters. This is an appropriate response and therefore further investigation by the Ombudsman would therefore not add to the investigation carried out by the Council into these points. There is insufficient evidence of fault with the Council’s decision not to reimburse Mrs X for the cost of travel and stationery because these were not agreed as part of the EOTAS package in place.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we could not add to the Council’s investigation and because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman