Norfolk County Council (18 011 090)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 08-Jan-2020

Summary: There was delay by the Council in issuing an Education, Health and Care Plan and in consulting special schools. There was also fault in failing to ensure special educational provision within the Plan was provided. This caused injustice including loss of education. The Council should apologise, provide a financial payment to acknowledge the impact of the injustice and make service improvements.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (18 019 251)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 02-Jan-2020

Summary: Mrs X complained that the Council failed to arrange suitable alternative education for her daughter, Y, when she was out of school but instead pursued action against her for non-attendance. There was some fault by the Council. It should have stepped in earlier to consider alternative education when other strategies were not working to help Y return to school. The Council has agreed a remedy for the lost opportunity for home tuition. It has also explained its new policy and procedures for managing school attendance issues.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (19 012 485)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 02-Jan-2020

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs Q’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a review of her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because part of the complaint is late and she has appealed to a tribunal. And it would not be a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council handled Mrs Q’s complaint.

London Borough of Redbridge (18 018 578)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 23-Dec-2019

Summary: the Council took too long to issue B’s Education, Health and Care Plan and should have sought advice from an Occupational Therapist and Speech and Language Therapist sooner. The Council has apologised.

London Borough of Sutton (19 012 833)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 21-Dec-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr A’s complaint that the Council has failed to implement the decision of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. This is because it is unlikely we would find sufficient outstanding injustice to warrant investigation.

Luton Borough Council (18 012 490)

Report Upheld Special educational needs 20-Dec-2019

Summary: Ms X complains the Council  failed to review and update her child's (Y’s) original Education and Health Care (EHC) Plan, dated August 2015, until October 2018; failed to respond appropriately to her concerns about Y's deteriorating behaviour in 2017 and 2018, and her requests in March 2018 for early review of Y’s EHC Plan, a new assessment by an educational psychologist and then for a complete reassessment of Y’s needs; failed to gather sufficient professional evidence before the annual review which started in June 2018 and then delayed producing an amended EHC Plan; and delayed dealing with her complaint about these issues and failed to resolve the complaint satisfactorily.

Staffordshire County Council (19 011 923)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 19-Dec-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mrs A’s complaint about the Council’s failure to address her son’s special educational needs. This is because the complaint relates to matters which have been subject to appeal.

Gloucestershire County Council (19 010 239)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 18-Dec-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint about the contents of an Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because the complainant has used their right to appeal to a tribunal and therefore the matter is outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. The Ombudsman will not investigate the other concerns the complainant has raised as the substantive matter complained about is out of jurisdiction.

Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council (19 000 361)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 18-Dec-2019

Summary: Mrs D complains on behalf of her son A, that the Council has not properly provided education for A and has failed to ensure his Special Education Needs (SEN) were met. The Council was at fault because it did not deal with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) annual review properly, delayed transition planning for A, did not deal properly with a referral to an Educational Psychologist, failed to provide for A’s SEN needs and did not follow its complaints procedure. A missed out on SEN provision, his transition planning was delayed, Mrs D was unable to appeal to a tribunal about an EHCP annual review and Mrs D had to spend longer resolving her complaint. The Council has agreed to apologise to A, pay him £4600 for the SEN provision he lost, pay Mrs D £250 for the time and trouble in making her complaint and ensure staff are aware of timescales in statutory guidance.

Norfolk County Council (19 011 938)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 17-Dec-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s processing of an Education Health and Care Plan case. The Tribunal is considering the case and we should not investigate while this continues.