London Borough Of Barnet (19 011 750)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 15-Feb-2021

Summary: Miss W complains the Council failed to make appropriate full-time education provision for her son, V. It also placed him in unsuitable education, failed to keep his Education, Health and Care Plan properly updated, failed to respond to her complaints and referred the matter to child protection even though she says the main issue was him being out of school. She says this caused her, and her family, distress and time and trouble and V was deprived of services he should have received. There is evidence of fault and the Council has agreed to apologise, make appropriate payments and to change its procedures around complaint handling.

Cheshire East Council (20 001 064)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 15-Feb-2021

Summary: the Council was at fault in its handling of Mr A’s request for an early review of X’s Education, Health and Care Plan, in delaying taking action following the reviews in July and September 2019 and in further delaying before starting to consult alternative school provision for X after the SEN panel agreed to this in October 2019. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Mr A to recognise the injustice these faults caused.

London Borough of Redbridge (19 000 964)

Report Upheld Special educational needs 12-Feb-2021

Summary: Mrs C complained on behalf of her son Z, that the Council failed to ensure Z received suitable full-time education and Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision after it concluded he was unable to attend school for health reasons. Mrs C says that upon Z’s return to school, the Council continued to fail to provide the SEN provision.

Leicestershire County Council (19 017 864)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 12-Feb-2021

Summary: There is evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with matters relating to Ms C’ son’s Special Educational Needs (SEN). The Council has agreed to implement actions in order to remedy the injustice these faults caused.

Sheffield City Council (20 010 034)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 12-Feb-2021

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about special educational needs provision for her adult son, Mr Y. The last correspondence with the Council was more than 12 months ago and there is no good reason to investigate the matters complained of now.

London Borough of Harrow (19 017 779)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 11-Feb-2021

Summary: The complainant alleged that the Council delayed in making the required special educational needs provision for his adult daughter, after a Tribunal decision, and the Council failed to consider its Equality Act duties when considering the complainant’s appeal against the refusal of free transport to College for his daughter. The Ombudsman found fault in the Council’s actions. The Council has agreed the recommended actions to remedy the injustice caused by the Council’s faults. We are therefore closing the complaint.

London Borough of Islington (20 009 872)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 11-Feb-2021

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delays in assessing and issuing a final Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because the complaint it is late with no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now.

Durham County Council (20 010 200)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 11-Feb-2021

Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about a potential data breach. This is because the Information Commissioner’s Office has already investigated the data breach and it is not a good use of public money to investigate complaints about complaint handling.

Suffolk County Council (20 010 207)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 09-Feb-2021

Summary: We will not investigate Mr C’s complaint about the Council’s failure to formally respond to his request for a reassessment of his daughter’s Education Health and Care needs. This is because the Council has now complied with Mr C’s request, and therefore any further investigation would not achieve a different outcome.

Telford & Wrekin Council (19 019 077)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 08-Feb-2021

Summary: Ms X complains the Council failed to find her son Y a suitable school placement, failed to offer appropriate education and then delayed making the school available for him to attend. Ms X complains the Council delayed making necessary changes to Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). The Council has accepted it was at fault in delaying making the school available. It has apologised and taken suitable action including providing a tutor. We found fault as the Council also delayed issuing an amendment to the EHCP. The action taken by the Council has remedied any injustice caused to Ms X and Y, so we have completed our investigation.