The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed issuing an Education Health and Care Plan for a child. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by making a suitable payment to the complainant to remedy the injustice its delays caused.
The complaint
Miss X complains that the Council has delayed issuing an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan for her child and about poor communication during the process.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended.
Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely that we would find fault causing an injustice. This is because the Council delayed issuing a final EHC Plan and it has accepted that there had been issues with its communication with Miss X. The Council apologised to Miss X, but I do not consider that this provided a full remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.
I therefore recommended that within one month the Council offers to make a payment to Miss X of £150 to remedy the distress its delays and poor communication caused her. To its credit, the Council agreed to my recommendation.
Final decision
We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the matter by providing a suitable remedy.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman