The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in issuing her daughter’s final Education Health and Care Plan and its failure to put in place sufficient speech and language therapy to meet her needs. This is because the injustice Ms X claims is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
The complaint
The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council took too long to finalise her daughter’s (Y’s) Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan following her annual review in 2023. She also complains the Council failed to deliver the speech and language therapy (SaLT) listed in Y’s EHC Plan.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
From the information I have seen the delay Ms X complains about amounted to approximately 11 weeks; this caused some uncertainty and delayed Ms X’s right of appeal. The information also shows Y has accessed some SaLT, although Ms X is not happy with what it provided and says the issue has caused her and Y stress.
I understand Ms X is unhappy with the Council’s delay and the SaLT provision provided by the Council but these issues have not caused Ms X or Y significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because any fault by the Council has not caused significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman