The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council failed to send an amended Education Health and Care Plan to her child’s school. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
The complaint
Mrs X complains that the Council failed to send a copy of her child’s amended Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan following a tribunal hearing that concluded in July 2023.
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Whilst the issues raised by Mrs X happened more than 12 months ago, she says she only recently became aware of the issues. For that reason, I do not consider her complaint to us to be late.
However, I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault. The Council has provided me with a copy of a case note that shows that the EHC Plan was shared with the school shortly after the tribunal hearing.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman